Another Player
by EpicPentakill
Summary: My first story ever NO FLAMES: what happens when a new face shows up at the Varden during the battle on the burning plains? will he significantly change the plot? will he die in the war? will his and Eragon's fate become intertwined? so many questions so many answers. but the only way to get the answers is to READ. there will be everybody from the book plus my own OC characters.R
1. A New Face

**EP: ** hey guys this is EpicPentakill here and this is my first ever fanfic! basically this is going to be mostly from my own characters point of view. I am hoping to make this a rather long story and I will attempt to continue it whenever possible unless I simply lose all motivation for writing. I'm thinking this will follow the entire storyline of the books starting from just about the end of the second book eldest. I will use the ancient language in this fanfic however if there is a word or phrase in the books already I will make one up. However fret not for I shall use old Norse like Paolini did! alright remember to R&R guys (read and review) as much as you think it doesn't help it actually really helps to hear positive comments from our fans. and I even accept constructive criticism 0_0 NO FLAMES though everybody hates flamers except the flamers themselves. anyways onto the story!

Eragon: you forgot the disclaimer…

**EP:** do you have to burst in on me like that?

Arya: yes we do when you forget the disclaimer

**EP:** FINE WHATEVER here is your disclaimer!

disclaimer: EpicPentaKill (myself) does not own the inheritance cycle, its plot, its characters,

or anything about the damned books you think if I did why would I be posting on a FanFiction site?

also if I owned the cycle Eragon and Arya would have definitely gotten together in book 4. oh sorry was that a spoiler

Eragon: *facepalm*

Ayra: just start the story before you hurt yourself... or one of us.

mental speak is in italic's "_Hello"_

regular speech is normal as you should know "Hello"

got it? good. now finally onto the story

* * *

**A New Face**

"uncle have you heard? there is a new rider about. the traders are saying he allied with the Varden."

"good maybe he will slay this demon king of ours…"

"uncle we both know that is unlikely."

"yes but it is still possible."

distracted by the talk with my uncle I barely have time to react when I sense the presence of five imperial soldiers outside the door. as they kick in the door I jump to the side as a man walks in clutching a scroll.

"due to plotting to overthrow the king you are hereby sentenced to death by hanging."

"you two bind their hands! exclaims the man standing next to the man clutching the scroll."

as one of the men comes at me I roll to the side grabbing my sword and sliding it effortlessly from its sheath. then I look over to see what stopped the soldier's just as I look to the side my uncle vanishes in a flash of red light then it finally registers for them as one of them yells.

"He used magic! with a look of fear on his face"

the soldiers turn back to me however it is too late before the first man who came at me even has time to draw his sword I decapitate him. as the room is quite small and most of the room we do have is piled waist high with books, scrolls, parchments, and strange devices impossible to name the soldiers can only come at me one at a time. noticing this I quickly switch my stance to be more suited for 1v1 dueling. as the next soldier slowly edges toward me I analyze him seeing that he holds his sword higher than most I Immediately swing at his legs but my sword gets stuck in the man's bone. as he feels the pain of my blow and releases all the weight on his right leg I tear his helmet off place my hands on either side of his head and snap his neck. as the third soldier comes at me I try to dislodge my sword from the second soldier's dead body but it is stuck so instead I pick up a small stone and the soldier's laugh

"what are you going to do with that? haha"

"thrysta" I say and the stone shoots forward burrowing past armor and into flesh imbedding itself deep inside the man's skull killing him instantly. as I look up I notice the last two soldier's are already running out the door.

_"all too easy_ I think then I come to a sudden realization _where is uncle?_?"

**EP: **haha that was almost too fun to write (especially that little cliff hanger at the end :P). i know it was really short but i don't care that is only the first chapter and you guys have to remember it is my first story too. the chapters are more likely to get longer as the story progresses and once i find a good length for my chapters i'll probably keep it at relatively the same length.  
Eragon: why haven't you introduced myself or Arya yet?  
Ayra: yes indeed why not writer?  
**EP:** i have introduced you two though...  
Eragon: not in the actual story

**EP:** don't worry you two will have your time...


	2. Packing

**EP: **Thanks for the review's guys I really appreciate it! I am really excited that I actually have people reading my story! also thanks to the review made by "He Who Travels" I have updated chapter 1 with quotations! secondly this is basically almost like a prologue it's going to be rather fast until I start getting into the actual story. and third like I said chapters will get longer as the story progresses. this is my first time writing anything outside school essays haha. I labeled this as romance because I plan taking it in a romantic direction possibly between my OC and another or perhaps between everybody's favorite Eragon and Arya. in any case onto the st…

Eragon: disclaimer…

**EP: **oh yes of course the disclaimer! then to the story!

disclaimer: EpicPentaKill (myself) does not own the inheritance cycle, its plot, its characters, or anything about the damned books you think if I did why would I be posting on a FanFiction site? in other words I'm not Paolini so if you want to read his works go buy his books.

mental speak is in italic's "_Hello"_

regular speech is normal as you should know "Hello"

Also in addition any words not in English will be translated at the end of the story.

**Packing**

knowing the soldiers would be back with reinforcements I decided it was best to leave. grabbing my pack I begin filling it with necessities such as food, water, and clothing. then I begin to fit things that aren't as important such as spell books, scrolls, notes, potions, and a few instruments laying around. when I am done I grab the last things I need before going out. my sword, my robes, and a few other weapons. when I pick up a small dagger my uncle gave me the first day I lived with him…

*flashback*

I'm standing on the stairway in front of my uncle's house a traveling pack hoisted on my back and a sad look on my face. I'm 9 years old…

"what is wrong nephew?"

"I miss them and I'm scared"

"scared of what may I ask?"

"I'm scared those soldiers will come back for me."

my uncle kneels down in front of me pulling something out of his cloak.

"take this dagger. as long as you have it no harm will come to you"

*end flashback*

I throw the dagger to the ground in a fit of rage.

"_I've lost them all. father, mother, uncle. and all because of those damned soldiers and that damned king may he rot in hell"_

until I notice something that I never noticed before. as fiery red symbols appear on the blade I immediately recognize them from the ancient language. as I read the lettering the blade grows hot and scolds my hand and I drop it. when the dagger reaches the floor it starts burning through the floorboards I stamp out the flame to notice that underneath the house is hollow. I see this through the hole in the floor, then I see something down there. it looks like a chest so I start ripping the floorboards up deciding whatever it was must have been extremely valuable otherwise uncle would have not hid it so well. I jump down and get zapped by some kind of magical force field that knocks me backwards. then I remember the inscription on the dagger. I say out loud

" neﺅnn háski"

infusing the words with magic I try walking forward and nothing happens so I pick up the dagger and continue to walk forward once I get to the end of the room I attempt to open the chest but its locked. I say another word in the ancient language

"skǪrga"

I attempt to open the chest again and it opens to reveal a book. as I flip through the pages I realize the book is filled with spells depicting things I have never seen nor heard of before. things that would require more energy than one person could possibly supply. I quickly decide to take the book with me and read through it later.

the last thing I grab before I leave is a map then I go outside to the stables saddle up my horse that uncle got me for my 13th birthday and I leave. I open my map and see that I must go north in order to reach Terim and from there I could get out into open land but for now the hard part would be getting out of the gates as I was now a wanted criminal. I snuck out while the guard was talking to another man but as soon as I'm out of the gates I hear a man yell

"Hey you get back in here"

as I look backwards the man yells

"you!"

I spur my horse forward as men on horses fly through the gate towards me yelling a stream of curses while attempting to chase me down. the chase was on…

**EP: **keep reviewing guys! sorry such a short update took me so long I'm looking forward to actually getting into the story and start writing multiple thousand word chapters and such. in any case here are your words for today!

" neﺅnn háski"- no harm

"skǪrga" - locks open

does anybody have an idea of what or who this stranger could be? let me know what you have found out. also did you like the little flashback excerpt I'll be slowly filling you in on his history and such. does anybody have a name for this stranger? I have one in mind but I want to know what you guys think so make sure to review! till next time.


	3. Terim, Traveling, And Reminiscence

**EP:**Hey guys this is the third chapter "He who wanders" I will attempt to make this chapter 3000 words long or at least close but there is a better chance of it settling probably somewhere close to 2500 or so as I am writing this right now I am already at 1,800 words but I seem to have run across a little "mid chapter writers block" haha in any case I'll see what I can do. the first part of this chapter focuses on building a little bit of a back story for my character. In any case I will also start putting word counts at the end of each chapter. As always thanks for the great reviews don't worry I'm not becoming inactive any time soon and I'm so motivated to get this next chapter to you guys that I'm actually writing this on my iPod at 1:30 in the morning 0_0 now for the most important part of any fanfiction the disclaimer!  
Eragon: Congratulations  
**EP:** for what?  
Eragon: you didn't forget the disclaimer this time  
**EP:** oh ok

Disclaimer: I have not yet stolen Christopher Paolini's identity and do not plan to so the inheritance cycle is not and probably never will be mine. Now onto the story!

**Terim, Traveling, And Reminiscence**

I sit by the fire healing my wounds. After a soldier shot me in the shoulder I was unable to keep ahead of them and they ended up catching me. I was able to fend them off but sustained many wounds in the process. Some more noticeable wounds included an inch deep gash in the side of my thigh where a sword imbedded itself inside me and a foot long slice on my back which was not deep but it was long and would be arduous to heal as I could not see it and therefore I could not properly assess the damage the sword had done to my back... I leave many small cuts and scrapes knowing I would expend more energy trying to heal them then it would dealing with the small amount of pain that they caused. I leave the gash on my back for last as it would most likely be the hardest to heal I take off my tunic once again and reach behind my back feeling the skin there it was perfectly smooth until I reached the center of my back. I trace Along the sides of the cut noticing it has already started to scar and then attempt to heal it using one of the simplest spells I know. I say the words waise heil and I feel the slight drop in my strength. However when I reach for the scar again it is still there . Then I remember something my uncle taught me long ago when I could not visualize a wound and did not have a mirror he told me this. Stan's in front of an animal the is at eye level with your back and go into that animals mind capture and image of your wound visualize it in your mind then attempt to heal it. As you might imagine this took me several tries to get right however when I did I was overjoyed and shocked at how well the technique actually worked! As I heal the wound and put my tunic back on my body I wonder  
_"Ah uncle where are you now? You had so much more to teach me. Now I am helpless."  
"That is not true you are very much capable of taking care of yourself without my assistance."  
_A smooth, wise, old voice sounds in my mind.  
_"Uncle is that you?"_  
Before I even say those words he has already left my mind.  
"Bah! How does he even do that my mind was blocked from everybody!"  
I lay down in despair wondering what went wrong, how the soldiers find out what we were talking about anyways there are words that protect from outside listeners all around the house. I lay there for a short amount of time until I remember what today was. Today was the one hundred and eighty eighth day of the year meaning today was the anniversary... My mind briefly flashes back to this exact day one year ago...

"Uncle today is the anniversary."  
"Right you are my nephew how long has it been since that day?"  
"Six years now"  
"Really has it been that long?"  
"Haha yes uncle" my sixteenth birthday will be. Coming up soon this time next year."  
"Ah yes I suppose we will have to set up some kind of ceremony to celebrate your coming of age? Yes indeed I believe we shall."  
"Haha ok uncle just don't do anything that might burn down the house."  
"What! No of course not that was only one time! And it was too be expected I just accidentally brewed that liquid flame potion a tad bit too powerful is all"  
"Haha alright"  
"In any case I have to go into town for some herbs today I am missing a few of them and it is extremely important that I get them today! So in that case would you like to come with me?"  
"Of course I'll come with you uncle just give me a moment to get ready"

Back in the present I chew on the chicken leg I had been gnawing on for the past hour. Realizing the bone was now devoid of all meat I throw it into the forest. I lay down and close my eyes hoping to get some kind of rest before the morning comes but sleep does not come. Instead my mind wanders to memories long since forgotten but all the still noteworthy...

"Father what are you doing?"  
"Quiet boy hold yourself up in that chimney"  
As instructed I brace myself against the walls of the well used and well worn chimney. Just as I am about to relax I hear a loud bang, men talking, and the sliding of swords being drawn from their sheaths. Then I hear the clang of metal an something that sounds like bone snapping. Then I hear two loud thuds. Before I can even get back down the chimney the soldiers were already gone. I rush over to my parents laying there on the floor bleeding profusely each with a large gash in their side cutting strait to the bone. With my father's dying breath he whispers to me two words "uncle" and "magic" then he dies as I move over to my mother but she dies just as I reach her.

Time skips foreword as I am now standing with my uncle on my families front steps.  
"Come along now off we go."  
" it isn't fair a child of your age shouldn't have to witness so much death already. But look at the good news you will live with me and study magic becoming my apprentice."

Time skips forward again and now I am standing in the grassy plains outside the town of Kuasta where we live roughly a year later and immediately know what memory this is.  
"this was the time when I cast my first spell" I think to myself and the memory plays.  
I stamp my feat angrily on the ground.  
"I can't do it uncle! Just light the fire yourself so we can eat!"  
"You will do it if you want to eat now light the fire like I showed you." I am so angered by the old man's stubbornness I scream out the word  
"Brisingr!" And to my surprise the fire seemingly ignites itself  
" see I told knew you could do it"

This time my vision flashes a red. Blood red. I see men and as I look at them they drop to the ground, dead. The men start to circle me and before I know it they start to maul me ripping my cloths blood starts to form in a small pool below us... My blood. I shoot up suddenly becoming conscious of everything around me my senses automatically become heightened as my arm instinctively reaches for my sword but the forest is eerily silent planning to get some more sleep before dawn I lay down once again but this time I do hear something. it sounds like a figure moving swiftly through the forest my hand is once again beside me on the hilt of my sword as two figures clad in black robes dash in and out of sight so quick one might have thought it a trick of the mind. but Aaron knew better than that he knew what he saw and what he heard was no trick of the eye or ear but just to make sure he spread his mind out as wide as he could but strangely enough he could not sense the strangers. he could feel the presence of every other living being in the forest down to the last tiny grub but nowhere could he sense anything big enough to be a man other than a small herd of dear in a clearing not too far from his and a small pack of wolves closing in on their feast of a rabbit den.

now too alert to even try to sleep again I sit up figuring if I'm not going to travel I might as well try to get some food. so I stand up string my bow and sling it over my shoulder along with my quiver heading off in the direction of the dear I sensed earlier.

knowing I couldn't carry the doe I shot all the way to Terim I decided to cook it then dice the most of it into bite size pieces and stick them in my pack. the remainder of the doe (which was about half) I tossed out for the wolves knowing they would clean it up I stamped out my campfire saddled up my horse Alistair and left heading north…

As the day wears on I fall in with a group of traders headed north also to Terim. While the men talk about the surprising lack of urgal raids in villages and on roads the women talk about clothing, the latest fashion in Gilead and Uru'bane or as uncle called it "Irelia" apparently that was the cities name was while it was under the elves control. It was only after Galbratorix rose to power that the city was named Uru'bane.

Just before nightfall we arrive at the city and are greeted by a guard. Knowing there are probably wanted posters of me here too I quickly hide in the back with the cargo of the traders caravan.

As soon as we entered the city I used a spell to change the appearance of my face and discreetly left the caravan taking my horse into the city I asked a boy if he knew where I could find a stable. He kindly pointed me in the right direction and as I left I flipped him a copper.

Once Alistair was safely inside and was well fed and watered I started looking for my own sleeping arrangements. I found a small inn close to the edge of town. it was not overly expensive and provided multiple quick escape routes incase trouble started and I needed to get out of town quickly.

"Excuse me ma'am do you have any rooms available?"

"Tour just in luck sweetie we've got one left" says the woman

"Thank you. How much will that be costing me?"

"Fourteen crowns if you'll please"

I swiftly count out the money and hand it to the woman and she hands me a key saying

"Last room on the left"

I sit at a table in the lobby sipping a glass of ale that the bartender insisted was "the best ale on this side of the spine!" as I take another sip I think to myself "_hardly"_. Looking across the room I see a woman surrounded by three men. It was quite obvious she was getting annoyed by whatever they were saying judging by the scowl she wore on her face. Making sure she wasn't going to be an enemy after a walked over there I spread out my mind feeling her own but just as I start moving into her mind I feel a sharp pain in my skull that almost knocks me over. Immediately I start putting barriers around my mind concentrating on an Elvish poem my uncle used to read to me a long time ago although when I do the attack suddenly stops so I start walking over to where the woman sat knowing she had been the one to attack my mind she had to know magic at least but this time I would be prepared for if she wasn't completely an enemy I might be able to turn her into an ally. as I get closer I notice that she is actually very beautiful albeit scarred and travel-weary yet still very beautiful. She was about my age, her long blonde hair flowed down her back smoothly like waves flowing over an ocean surface, though her arms and legs were scarred most likely from traveling or farm work her face was the most stunning feature about her. Her eyes were slanted like a cats almost and her ears had a slight point to them. She was wearing a strapless sapphire blue dress that came down to just below her knees.

"gentlemen if I had my guess I'd say my sister here would like to be left alone."

" this is your sister?"

"Yes'r" she is now why don't you go and get yourself another drink let's have a merry night and not have to ruin it with a fight I say turning to the side revealing my sword as I drown my glass of ale. Noticing this the men grumble and move away going back to the bar to bother some other helpless woman.

"Thanks" the woman said as I start moving away

"No problem" I reply

"Would you like to sit?"

"Yes please thank you"

As soon as I sit she pops the question. "Who are you?"

"Not here" I say quietly "do you have a room?"

"No. Do you?"

"Yes come on" I say grabbing her hand and leading her up to my room once inside the room I shut and lock the door. I turn around and notice the room is has a soft lighting to it coming from the lantern in the corner of the room. other then the bed there is only one other piece of furniture namely the small end-table the lantern is sitting on. There is also a small fireplace on the other side of the room which I light by saying "brisingr" the woman looks visible shocked at first but then calms down and says.

"Alright now who are you and why are you here?"

Deciding to trust her I said.

"I am Aaron son of Derek as for my business here that can wait until you tell me who you are elf."

While this was not entirely true it was true enough to be believable. My name is Aaron however Derek was my uncle's name not my father's in any case my uncle was more of a father to me then my actual father ever was.

"Alright you trusted me fugitive I'll trust you. My name is Eris I'm not entirely elf, my father was human but my mother was Elvin I have the looks of an elf and the mental abilities of an elf yet as for physical abilities I am human and I can't use magic. I also have the longevity of an elf."

" Alright then I'm traveling to the Surda I've heard rumors that they secretly support the Varden which are massing for an attack in Surda this very moment. Being a wanted fugitive there aren't many other places you can go. Where are your parents?"

"Dead, they died when I was very young I've been living on my own since I was five years old. What of you? Where are your parents?"

"My parents died when I was nine I've lived with my uncle since then Derek was my uncle not my father."

"It's getting late and this is the last room they had available would you like to stay here tonight Eris?"

"That would be nice. Thank you Aaron you weren't as rude as I thought you'd be"

"Uh ok then I guess I'll be taking the floor then"

I quickly utter a spell to smother the flames and the fire goes out. I shudder the lantern pull a blanket from my pack and lay down next to the bed…

I wake up in the morning with a cramp in my back and a slight buzz in my head then I remember something and I'm suddenly fully awake looking around thinking "_Eris where are you?" _Until I see the note on the end-table, It reads. "Thanks again for saving me from those men last night but I fear I must go -Eris"

I wanted to talk with her more and see if she would like to come with me I also wanted to know where she was going. _"But apparently that wasn't meant to be"_ I think to myself and leave handing the key to the woman of the house before heading to the stables to pick up Alistair.

Soon after leaving the town I hear a rustling in the bushes then I'm pulled out of the saddle into the bushes by a pair of hands.

"You shouldn't have followed me Aaron"

"And why not what are you doing that could possibly be so dangerous for me?

"I'm going to the Varden but I heard there was something that arrived in Dras-Leona. Some kind of powerful weapon"

"Then I'm coming with you."

"Absolutely not!"

"Ok listen here first off its strange to see a woman traveling alone we can pretend to be brother and sister again because that worked before. Also from what I saw last night you have a knack for getting into trouble so if you do manage to get into some trouble then I'll be there to back you up."

"Bah fine just don't get in my way"

_"Feisty"_ I think as we walk out of the bushes

I run head first into a large man as I look up it was the man from last night.

"You two done yet?" He said motioning to the two soldiers standing behind him…

**EP:** alright guys that was the third chapter! I hope you enjoyed. this one gives us a little bit of a back story AND SOME NAMES!

word count: 2880

**EP: **alright so I didn't meet the challenge of 3000 words but I got close right ^_^ in any case REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

words:

Brisingr: fire


	4. Trapped

**EP**:hey guys this is the fourth chapter of your favorite fanfic "Another Player" I hope you enjoy this chapter i hit a tad bit of writers block. first I've been really busy lately and i also went on vacation for a week. then i was so sick all i could do was eat drink and sleep and then yo top it all off my mother was in the hospital! that's why it took me so long to update. Sorry about that :/ also i wish to note one thing. yes i'm not trying extensively much to fix my mistakes while i write however i am trying to fix them. i'm still new to this and am going to have a lot of mistakes. in any case onto the story but first the disclaimer

**Disclaimer:** if you haven't gotten it strait by now I think you might have short term memory loss or something. I don't own the inheritance cycle.

**WARNING**: this chapter includes slightly suggestive themes. However nothing unsuitable for children under 13 however some later chapters may be...

**Trapped**

"You two done yet?" He says motioning to the soldiers standing behind him.  
"Ha and what do you plan to do with us?" Asks Eris  
"We are to capture you and keep you in Terim's prison until Galberatorix comes to Terim in a weeks' time" says the soldier to the right. He looks about eighteen aging him slightly older than us. as with all imperial soldiers he wore a red tunic embroidered with gold thread in the outline of a jagged tongue of fire. The soldier to the left had the exact same attire yet looked older and far more battle worn, he even had several scars to prove it. the two most visible ones included one running up the underside of his arm and one across his face stretching from his left cheek bone to his right ear.  
"Oh yea you and what army is going to take us?"  
"This army" he says motioning to the forest on our side of the road. As he did a good two dozen men stepped out from behind the trees with swords drawn.  
Just as I turn around a club knocks me to the ground. The last thing I see before everything goes black is Eris being knocked to the ground as well...  
I don't know how long has past but when I wake up I am in a cell it's a generic six foot by three foot concrete cell with a single barred window and a solid iron door. in the corner of the room rests a small cot equipped with a single blanket. Just as I sit up a shudder is opened in the iron door and a tray of food is slid into my cell. When I take the food the shudder is once again closed. Realizing I probably haven't eaten in a day or so I hungrily devoured the food which consisted of a few slices of bread a slice of cheese and an apple. Once I had finished the food I chugged the wine to quench my thirst although I nearly spit it out do to the horrid taste. however knowing if I hadn't eaten or drank in a day or so my body would soon become dehydrated and start to weaken which would leave me no way to cast spells or escape. As I think about escape I remember Eris for the first time since I woke up. I try to stretch my mind to perimeter of the prison but for some reason I can't. I cannot expand my mind beyond the walls of my cell. "_They must have drugged me_" I think. So without the ability to do anything I go over to the cot Lay down on it and am soon asleep. When I next awake a man comes into my cell with a tray. he is an older man wearing the colors of the empire with a sword buckled to his waist though nothing else. On the tray is the same meal as yesterday. He sets it down in front of me and grabs a stool from outside the door before securely locking it.  
"Go on eat" he urges as he settles into the stool  
"I'm not exactly hungry at the moment"  
"Alright so I've just got a few questions for you then"  
"Ask away"  
"Alright first off what is your relation to the girl?"  
"Eris? She is my sister"  
"Don't lie to me boy"  
"Alright I just met her last night at an inn"  
"Do you know why you are here?"  
"I'm a wanted fugitive am I not? But before you ask any more questions how long have I been here?"  
"Three days"  
"And is Eris alright?"  
"She will be if you cooperate"  
"What do you want from me..."  
Meanwhile  
"My my you are a pretty one"  
"What do you want!" Says Eris who is currently chained to a table.  
"We don't want anything but our king does"  
"And what does your king want?..."  
Back with Aaron  
As the man speaks to me I grow more and more distant until I realize that I'm able to actually spread my mind farther than my cell and I can now recall several words of the ancient language. Just as the man starts in a new question I lunge at him wrapping my hands around his neck and when he reaches for his sword I whisper thrysta and it is thrusts back into its scabbard. The man struggles for a few more seconds then gives up and dies. I take his sword, the keys, and his dagger then unlock the cell and walk out immediately spreading my mind out in search of Eris. I find her in a room a floor up from mine and fairly nearby then I notice another figure in the room and I start running.  
Back with Eris  
"Where is it!"  
"I don't know"  
"Lier!" He hisses and he punctuates the word with a harsh slap across my face. Then a cruel smile forms on the man's face and I know that I'm in trouble.  
"You know boss said I could use any means necessary to make you talk and know just to one." He says with a sly note in his voice as he pulls out a knife.  
"Yes you are a very pretty one indeed he says as he positions the knife at the collar of my tunic."  
"No no! Please don't!"  
"Tell me what I need to know then"  
"I can't because I don't know!"  
"Your still going with that approach?" All right then" and I force myself not to cry as I hear a sound *rip* and suddenly the room is much colder. "Still not going to tell me?"  
"Please don't do this" the end of my sentence is greeted by another rip. "still nothing?"  
I am utterly silent as I am too scared to say anything. The remains of my cloths fall off to the side of the table and once again he comes back up to my face.  
"Tell me now or I'll finish what I've started" again silence and he positions the knife at the straps holding my underclothes on my body but just as he is about to cut them off a sword sprouts from his stomach and he topples over dead.  
"Aaron!"  
"What did you really miss me that much?" I say with an obvious smirk and she playfully slaps my face.  
"We need to get out of here do you know the way?"  
"We need to find our weapons first and our packs otherwise we wouldn't last past the hour after we get out of here"  
"alright do you know where those are?"  
"My sword's hilt has a gemstone in it that is filled with pure energy but they drugged me if you give me a minute or so to concentrate I might be able to find it." Suddenly we hear men marching down the hallway.  
"I don't think we have a minute. I'll buy you as much time as possible just hurry"  
As I concentrate on the forces of energy around me Eris springs into action locking and barring the door then grabs the dead man's sword and wields it in her right hand.  
"Got it!"  
"Good please say you found a way out of here too"  
"Actually yes let me see here." I say pressing on bricks in the wall  
"aha here we are!" I say as a door-sized space in the wall opens up  
"Come on let's go" I say grabbing her hand and pulling her into the darkness. Just as the doorway closes we hear a loud "bang" telling us that the men had finally broken into the room...  
The passage we were in was dark. So incredibly dark. I entered Eris' mind and instead of the harsh reaction I expected like at the inn she allowed me in.  
"_Don't speak we need to stay here until they leave. If they find out where we are this tunnel leads outside of town but out packs are in the room next to this one_."  
"_Ok_" she thinks back to me and I exit her mind...  
Still gripping Eris' hand we wait in silence everything is still. We hear the soldiers talking outside of our secret passage. We hear every word of their conversation yet don't dare utter a word ourselves lest we be caught.  
"Damn magicians I hate them"  
"The boy killed Tom as well. He was found dead in his cell"  
"These two are dangerous. boss didn't tell us how much trouble these two would be"  
"Aye maybe they'd be just better avoided by the likes of us."  
"Aye" another soldier agreed"  
"Aye. Whoever gives boss a run for his money is definitely somebody we should stay away from"  
"Alright now that you all have let the prisoners go and talked it over get back to work! Galberatorix will be here tomorrow and he won't be happy you let those prisoners escape"  
As they walk out the door we hear one last thing said from one of them.  
"You hear the king is offering an  
earldom a piece for whoever catches those two?"  
We wait ever so carefully until we hear nothing more, then we carefully sneak out of the passage and into the main room we were in before.  
"Alright follow me" I say quietly and we move out.  
Treading carefully on the floor as to not make any noise we slowly make out way to the next room over only to be confronted by six soldiers when we enter the room. We quickly Dispatch and kill them using the weapons we took from the already slain guards. As soon as we had finished our rather quick fight we heard more soldiers coming up the stairs so we grabbed our swords, packs, and other weapons then ran back to the room we were previously in. When we were the I pressed the brick that opened the door and we got in but we didn't stop there instead we ran and kept running for what seemed like an hour but was only ten minutes. "Wait Eris stop" I say holding up my arm I dare to speak because it is so dark in the passage we could only see the outlines of each other. I am tired yet still use a spell to create a floating were-light that travels above our heads so we can see. We wait there for another extremely slow ten minutes but when no loud noises or soldiers are forthcoming we decide it is safe to walk.  
"Aaron you think we're safe?"  
"From now on Eris I don't think we'll ever be safe. But for right now we're safer than we have been."  
Next I step my boot falls into a thick sludge-like albeit somewhat water like surface. As we look down both myself and Eris realize where we are  
"We're in the sewers?"  
"Indeed, the sewers lead out of town we'd be wise to follow them."  
"Aaron how do you know so much about everything?"  
"I'll tell you when we're out of town when we stop for the night. It's a long story and we should concentrate on getting away from here for now"  
"Alright"  
We travel forward. Always forward ignoring the side tunnels that lead all over the city. So lit only by our floating were-light we traveled forward. The stench of the sewage was enough of a reason to hate the place but then you have the constant squeaking of mice and chattering of people above your head.  
"Aaron I see something!"  
"What is it?"  
"I think it's daylight I'm not sure though it looks distorted almost like its flowing."  
As we come closer I see what Eris was talking about then I think about it for a minute and realize what it is. "Eris how long would you recon we've been down here?"  
"I don't know probably almost an hour"  
"In that case we need to run"  
"Why?"  
"That" I say pointing to what we saw earlier "I's a pillar of water the elves figured out how to use the ocean to their advantage in their coastal cities. Using magic every hour on the hour this place flushes out with water then everything is dragged out into the ocean. In other words run!"  
We both start running and it takes us almost a good ten minutes to get to the wall but for some reason it hasn't flushed yet.  
"Can you swim?"  
"I'm not the best but I can"  
I grab her hand as to not get separated we take a gulp of air then we dive in. We swim up the surface without issue and just as we swim to shore we see and excess amount of garbage and feces float to the surface.  
"We'll that was fun."  
"Yea let's not do it again haha"  
"We should get out of here"  
"Agreed do you have a horse?"  
"No"  
"alright then we'll have to ride shorter distances at a time but I believe we should be able to get to Surda in a relatively short amount of time"  
"Ok I say quietly, thinking about what that soldier would have done to me if Aaron hadn't shown up."  
Aaron whistles and his horse bolts out of the trees obviously happy to see his master again.  
"Here." He says tossing me a robe that looks extremely valuable. It is seven different colors of blue and shimmers when light reflects off of it. Then I take a closer look. All over there are tiny gems encrusted into the fabric they glisten and sparkle almost as much as the robe does. I put on the robe and voice my opinion. "It's beautiful" I mumble, silenced by the sheer amount of skill I know it must have taken to weave these threads together for in the entire robe there is not a single thread out of place.  
"Thank you I made it myself"  
"You made this?" "Indeed the only thing I didn't do myself was find the gemstones. By the way those are diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and lapis. however most of them are lapis. My uncle spent years of his life finding those stones and filling them to the brim dull of energy that I can use for spell casting. It is my casters robe but I figure since I'll be with you most of the time anyways I can still use the energy when I need it."  
"Aaron do you think you could teach me how to use magic?"  
"Me? I'm probably not the best person to ask to teach you. However if that is what you wish I shall try. now put the robe on and stand still so I can adjust it to your size."  
I do as he says and the robe shrinks slightly and is now much more of a comfortable fit.  
" one of the advantages of being a spell caster is you never have to wait for a tailor" he says with a toothy grin... "Now just wait I should make it look less appealing. People are bound to notice us if we go around wearing clothes fit for a king." He mutters another semi-long spell under his breath and the cloths start to shimmer then they change into slightly worn travelers cloths. "Haha it's still the exact same robe. Nothing has changed other then the age. I had to first remove the protective spells on it then I had to age the robe nearly three hundred years just to make it look similar to travelers cloths,"  
"You are extremely thorough on everything aren't you?"  
"I try"  
"Oh great so now you have a sense of humor too"...  
We leave as soon as possible deciding it was for the best having two people on Alistair's back we had to travel slower then we normally would but it didn't matter at this point nobody would be looking for us so for right now we were safe. And overall I enjoyed talking to Aaron and quite frankly I enjoyed his company it was nice to finally have somebody there to talk to after so long spent alone. When we finally stopped for the night it was just starting to get dark, we were avoiding the main roads so we were far off the road before we stopped as a safety precaution. We gathered wood dead leaves and grass and whatever else would burn. It may have been hot in the afternoon but at night the temperature dropped below freezing point still. Therefore we lit a fire.  
"So you want to learn magic ay?"  
"Yes" I said confidently  
"Alright you said you can't use magic however. Am I correct?"  
"Indeed"  
"Ok here is the thing there is something like a wall in your mind. In order to use magic you must be able to feel the world around you and be able to spread your mind out to feel things. In order to do this we must break down this wall. For some it is destroyed during a traumatic experience, it happens automatically if you are bonded to a dragon, due to the elves close bond to dragons they are born without this wall, some are naturally gifted without it. And the final way is to have another magician go into your mind and forcibly remove it. However I would prefer not to do that as it can be somewhat of a painful experience... So what else is there to do? Well with your permission I would like to go into your mind and have you relive your most traumatic experience as though it will be emotionally painful this is the only other way other than forcibly removing the wall and sometimes doing that can lead to memory loss and temporary yet dangerous insanity."  
"I'll do it but I want you to be there while I do."  
"Alright are you ready? The first thing I need you to do is lower all the defenses around your mind and let me become completely entangled within your inner thoughts I will talk you through it as best as I can alright?"  
"Ok" I say lowering the barriers I put around my mind as he holds out his hands palms facing upward.  
"Ready?" He asks.  
"Ready" I confirm taking his hands. As I do my mind swirls and I am back at my home but this time as a young child... I remember I was five.  
Suddenly I hear a voice in my head  
"Alright Eris I'm right here if you need me just say the word."  
I knew she wouldn't say anything though she was a strong girl but she was also very stubborn quite accidentally I stumbled on some of her memories that I wasn't meant to see things that described her character, herself as a person. I now knew enough about her that I could probably write a short biography. She was a farmer's daughter. Her mother left the great elven city of Elesméra to be with her father. Eris herself was hardworking, quiet, respectful, smart, and was always extremely beautiful. Her parents never let her socialize or leave their house as her elven looks would attract the attention of the king. However one day Eris disobeyed her parents and went into the town. When she did a man saw her and went to tell the guards when they came Eris was already gone. But they followed her back to her house...  
I walk forward opening the door to my home. There my mother and father greet me with warm smiles and hugs. Then I went to go play in my room. Having nobody to talk to I had always had an imaginary friend that I would play different games with. This one just happened to be hide and seek. So I hid in a secret compartment that was built into the wall. But just as I close the door to the compartment I here a loud boom and men talking. Then I hear swords being drawn and two loud thumps. Then I hear the men talking again and they come into my room. By now I am too scared to move so I hide there in silence. A few minutes later I hear the men talking again, then nothing, I assume it is safe so I leave the cubby hole.  
I stand by watching myself slowly move down the stairs and I know what is coming next but the little girl doesn't. I start to cry.  
I feel that Eris is crying and assume this is when her parents died.  
"Eris are you ok?" I ask her  
" yes keep going!" She says through gritted teeth. I realize then she is going to do whatever it takes to break the wall and learn magic...  
I watch as the little girl steps down the stairs the. Starts running. There on the ground lay her parents, my parents dying. As she runs to her father he says one thing which I say out loud in perfect unison. "Eris *cough cough* run!"  
The little girl runs out of the house. When this happens the tears blur my vision and I can only see the blurred outlines of two bodies on the floor and a giant pool of blood. "Eris in order to break down the wall you must find peace in this. You must become at peace with yourself and with this memory." "I.. I can't Aaron I just can't." And the memory fades as I open my eyes I am now back in my own world but am still crying. Aaron reaches over and wipes the tears from my face and says two simple words "I'm sorry" somehow that simple statement allows me to forget what I had gone through and wipes all the cares in the world away from me for a few moments for the next words out of my mouth surprise even me. "Remove it." I say drying the last of my tears.  
"What?"  
"I want you to go into my mind and remove the wall"  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yes" I say holding out my hands again and as soon as he takes them I once again feel his mind enveloping mine and I feel the immense strength that he holds and I feel safe. For once in my life I actually feel safe. I know not what it was perhaps it was the warmth of his hands or the strength of his grip but it made me feel safe. Then I feel a sharp pain in the center of my skull almost as though somebody was stabbing me with a needle. Then my entire body starts to hurt almost like I was hefting a thousand pound boulder upon my back. My entire body starts to ache but I don't say anything.  
I feel how much pain Eris is in and I get the sudden urge to protect her. So I envelope her mind further shielding her from pain. I could stop most of it but not all.  
I take a deep breath as the pain is substantially lessened but as I look up and Aaron has appeared but his body is blocking a beam of white light and he has a look of severe pain on his face. Soon it is over and I collapse at Eris' feet letting go of her mind and hands and reaching for her robe. I touch it and my energy is slightly restored. I made sure not to take much energy out of the gems as we would be resting and that would replenish the rest of my energy.  
"you didn't have to do that"  
"I know"  
"It may not have needed done but it was very sweet. Thank you" I say hugging him but I let go after a few seconds unused to the strange contact."  
" would you mind getting me some bread I'm exhausted. I expended nearly all of my strength with the spell to remove the wall. So how do you feel?" Standing up I get in Alistair's saddlebags and grab a loaf of bread which I year in half. I toss one half to Aaron and having not eaten myself I bring the other half back to the fire with me. The. I close my eyes and stretch out my mind. "Aaron hold onto me I feel as though I am about to float away."  
"That is quite normal. You will get used to it in time. Now let us start. With a lesson on magic. Magic is not all just mumbling spells and making things happen. There are certain rules and limitations you must follow and must have. In order to cast a spell you must first have the bodily energy to fuel that spell. If you cast a spell and do not have the energy to fuel it there is a multitude of things that could happen. You could feint among other things but most of all spells that expend too much of your energy the spell could kill you. Therefore in order to cast a spell you must first know your limits as a beginner spell caster you will most likely struggle to cast the simplest spells this is why I beg you not to try any spells you hear me use as they will oftentimes be much more complicated then the simple spells I shall teach you now. Let us try something simple for now the first spell I learned was the word for fire you see in order to cast a spell you must first know the word in order to cast that spell. This language also prevents you from lying so it is a good way to make people tell the truth. This is why the elves speak in the ancient language because they believe honesty and respect are higher virtues than any other. The word for fire is brisingr I want you to light these twigs" as I say this I start building a small pyramid of twigs.  
"Alright shouldn't be too hard. Brisingr" but nothing happens.  
" allow me to explain further. In order to cast a spell you must first feel the energy that is flowing through you. You must then harness this energy concentrate on what you wish to do then say the word. After that you should feel a drop in your strength and what you willed to happen should take effect. Now try again!"  
I did as he said immersing myself in the energy that I could now feel flowing throughout my body, concentrated on the sticks and said once again "brisingr!" This time the twigs lit and Aaron clapped.  
"Good job; you may make an impressive magician yet."  
We trained late into the night until we were both too tired to cast any other spells or even bring out our bedrolls. Eventually we both simply lay on our backs and fell asleep.

**EP**: alright there you have it. once again I am very sorry for such the long time before this update but I hope you understand. In any case there is chapter four of "Another Player" hope you've enjoyed it so far as there is more to come.

Brisingr: if you don't know this one you shouldn't be reading this Fanfiction...

Word count: 4499


	5. raid of the two travelers

**EP:** hey guys chapter 5 here and we're finally starting to get longer chapters. With longer chapters that means less frequent updates but I'll still be writing this every time I'm not busy so without further adieu I present to you chapter 5...  
Eragon: and the disclaimer  
**  
Disclaimer:** I the only things I own are my own ideas therefore so far I own the two main characters of this story :p but nothing else. Paolini owns the rest.

Tveir fara austr mi raid

I awaken next to a still unconscious Eris, I smile then buckle my sword back into my waist and stand up. Feeling the slightest bit peckish I grab the deer meat from a few days ago out of my bag along with the book I found in my uncle's house and take them over to a nearby tree on the edge of the small clearing we were in. While snacking on the meat I open the book and start to read... Hours pass as I immerse myself in the twisting labyrinth of elvish runes on each page. The book was not only a spell book it was intact a guide. Within it held secrets that nobody knew, spells that nobody whispered, and advice that nobody took. But this book was far from worthless this guide was an in depth guild on spell weaving and draconic guide. however it also contained secret passageways, politics, and different ways to alter the flow of energy around your body to change what you wish to do with magic. I was barely done with the section on advanced transmutation when Eris awoke.  
"Good morning"  
"Indeed to you as well Eris"  
"How long have you been awake?"  
"A few hours I was just reading up on some spells my uncle didn't teach me" as I say this I flip to the back of the book to a random page and find something more interesting than all else I had read so far. Twelve words were written on the page. Only twelve, they were written in my uncles handwriting as well so we know they were added after he got the book. Though no description or translation of each. Getting a feeling these were either very important or very dangerous words I closed the book and stuck it back in my saddlebags.  
"We should get moving" she said  
"Indeed" I reply stamping out the remnants of the previous nights fire... When we were ready to leave we jumped on Alistair and left. We didn't say a word to each other for hours. Instead we communicated through thoughts therefore strengthening Eris' mental connection with the world around her. As we traveled I gave her simple tasks such as levitating a stone at eye level until she could no longer. When she was too tired to continue I would replenish her energy and we would start anew. The rest of the day went on in much the same manor though by the time we stopped for the night we were both so tired of speaking mentally we just spoke aloud. Though we were so tired we fell almost strait to sleep...  
Days pass as we get closer to dras-Leona. One night when we stopped Eris asked me...  
"So what are some more advanced spells?"  
"Haha I don't think your ready for those yet."  
"And why not?" She asked offended by his laughter.  
"Fine how about this. I will summon a circle of flame around us. If you control this flame for five minutes without it wavering or catching fire to the nearby trees I shall teach you more advanced spells."  
"Deal!" She says confidently not knowing what is to come next  
"The rules here are you must keep the flame alive but at the same time must control its power. Fire is a dangerous thing. Too much and it will backfire, too little and it is useless. You will not need to cast any spells unless it will help you control the fire. Do you understand?"  
"Yes"  
"Then lets get started"  
I clap my hands together and raise them In the air. I have found that hand motions or motions with an implement such as a wand help convey your meaning and make the spell more effective. Then in a sudden movement I brought my arms down and out saying the single word for fire. As I do a circle of flame surrounds us I mutter another spell this time I say skölir nosu fra brisingr  
I feel a slight drain in my energy as the spell takes effect. I let go of my flame spell and it stands strong not wavering at first. However about three minutes after I released the spell Eris starts to sweat and has a look on her face the is obviously pain. Soon the flame starts to waver and it catches fire to a nearby tree  
I shout "sky adurna!" And water starts to fall in a circle around the camp and the fires  
"Like I said. You are not ready." I say then walk away from the camp site.  
"What is wrong with you? The closer we get to Dras-Leona the more irritable you get.  
"You want to know what's wrong with me? They!" I say pointing at the black spires looming just over a hill "are what is wrong with me"  
"What exactly so you mean by they?"  
"The ra'zac. They live in that dark place. This is possibly the only book that tells anything about them" I say holding up my uncles book. "Only the gods know what the author had to do to get this information. My uncle came to this place years ago. Now I know what he was doing. This book once belonged to the priests of helgrind and before that the ra'zac. I imagine knowing it would mean curtain death he came here last after completing the rest of the book and asked the ra'zac themselves to help him complete the book and he would do anything they wanted. He must have been a brave man but very foolhardy. If he had known the slightest thing about them in the first place he would never have gone in there in the first place. The ra'zac, at least that is the name of their species as they do not have personal names. They are half bird and half human when they come out of the egg you see as soon as the egg becomes an adolescent the parents transform themselves this process can take 3 days to a week. In any case they transform themselves into some kind of Giant bat like creature called a lethrblaka there used to be a ritual that was like a rite of passage for them in order to become the equivalent of a man in their culture you had to protect your parents until their transformation was complete. You see the ra'zac always lay two eggs, one male the other female. When the eggs hatch the parent of the current ra'zac couple will lay down and die. And the cycle continues. As for the ra'zac's physical abilities they are lighter, faster, and stronger than a normal human. They can't see well In the sunlight and are deathly afraid of deep water, they can't use magic and they eat humans, completely all they leave is the bones and even those are picked clean. They have been following us since we got through the pass. And they will be waiting for us in Dras-Leona." I say lowering my voice to just a whisper for the last part.  
"So what do you suppose we do?  
I enter her mind knowing they are probably waiting outside the camp right now.  
"_We need a plan. The ra'zac move at night and they heard everything we just said. They are waiting right outside the camp. They will be waiting for us in daylight as the city is closed at night. They know what we look like and our smell there is also a curfew on the city so here is what we do. You see they are expecting us to_  
_Come in with other travelers in the daytime as they know we are aware of their impaired vision at that time. So here is what I propose. We go In middle of the night. The gates will be locked so we will have to scale the walls. We will have to deal with the guards so we will use magic to make ourselves and the ropes invisible. Now here comes the tricky part. Once we are Inside the city I can only hold the invisibility spell for fifteen minutes without exhausting all of my energy in that time we need to get into the castle get to the duke's private quarters and steal the weapon."_  
_"Why the duke' private quarters?"_  
_"This weapon must have come from the king himself. If he believes it will stop the varden it must be a powerful weapon indeed. In any case with something from the king you don't keep it in the treasury you keep it with you at all times and while you sleep If you were smart you would keep it in a hidden in a secret compartment somewhere in your room."_  
_"You are right so how are we getting out?"_  
_"Uhh I haven't exactly thought about that yet but I'm sure we'll figure it out. We leave tomorrow night we prepare tomorrow and for the rest of the day we will not practice magic. We will need all our strength where we are going..."_  
Meanwhile outside the camp.  
"Why can we not just kill them now? We know they have the book."  
"No you fool! Have you forgotten that book containssss all of our sssecretsssss if he hasss read it he will know our weaknessesssss. It iss better to ssstick with the plan, they know about the weapon and will come into town tomorrow morn."  
"You are correct, then let uss go and ssset our trap...  
Back in the campsite the next morning.  
"Eris wake up."  
"Yea Aaron what do you need? My uncle contacted me last night. He said he needed help so I scried him. He is in the dungeons of Dras-Leona."  
"What!"  
"We must rescue him he knows much more magic than I do he could be very useful."  
"Aaron no they are setting a trap he is the bait."  
"God damn it I won't lose another father!"  
Just then I remembered. Aaron's uncle had raise him since he was nine.  
"Aaron that is why he is the bait, think logically for a minute. They know you, they know your history, as long as you are still out of their custody your uncle will live because they know how powerful you are with magic they know as soon as he dies you will know."  
"We must still save him but instead of rushing in there blindly i have a plan..."  
Minutes later.  
" that might actually work."  
"It will work."  
... That night  
We disguised our scent with a potion my uncle taught me to brew. Then disguised our bodies by changing the appearance of our cloths to look black then covering our skin with a mixture of mud and charcoal then we grabbed the ropes and our weapons and walked calmly to the wall. There I cast a spell to make us invisible while Eris cast a spell to make the rope invisible. We through it over the wall and hoped the guards didn't hear as metal scraped against stone. Alas they did and came looking for where the sound came from. By this time we were both already halfway up the rope. When we get to the top the guards are still there so I silently tell Eris not to make a sound through my thoughts we both got onto the platform easily so we snuck by The guards without making a sound as we made our way to the nearest guard post. There we traveled down the stairs and exited through the main door.  
"Time starts now. I'm no longer running off of the energy in the robe. We should hold hands as to not be separated." I say. She reaches out and though it takes multiple times I grab her hand and we make a run for the castle.  
Once we are there we have about five minutes till I release the spell. So I contact my uncle.  
_"Uncle Derek it is Aaron I have come to rescue you we are here to steal a weapon from the duke."_  
_"Thank you Aaron I knew you would come."_  
"Hurry" I say aloud as Eris mutters a spell to break the lock on the door leading into the dungeons. Once we are in the dungeons I release the spell and I go to y my uncle's cell.  
"Aaron free me and hurry the guards will be back any minute now."  
I break the lock with another simple spell then break the chains holding my uncle in place. Then I cast the invisibility spell on us all and we run out of the dungeons nearly running into the guards.  
"It would not be wise to leave them alive. Once they find I am gone they will alert the whole city."  
"That is the point uncle we want the entire city to be alert."  
We hurry out the door and up three flights of stairs to the top floor and I release the spell. We go to the room at the very end of the hall and break the door down to find the duke and some noble woman I assume laying in bed nearly nude snogging each other. I hold my sword to the pompous rulers neck.  
"Where is the weapon?!"  
"I i don't know"  
"Aaron we don't have time for this." Says Eris  
I break into the man's mind and forcibly pry the answer from his innermost thoughts then walk over the the wall and cut a hole in it then take the contents of a gemstone and a book.  
"It's a spell book and it must be powerful if this is what galberatorix sent him."  
"Aaron we need to leave now!"  
"Uncle I need you to summon a dragon circling above the town I need you to make it roar and spit fire from its maw, make it look as realistic as you can. Also make it a sapphire blue dragon.  
"I'm going to use the invisibility spell again uncle may I use the energy in your ring to sustain the spell until we get out of this city?" "Yes boy now do it the dragon is soaring!"  
Quickly mutter the spell an we are invisible once again then we run out of the room, down the stairs, and onto a backstreet.  
"Uncle the ra'zac are here."  
"What!? We must hurry the guards are all in the city center controlling the crowds even the patrol guards who patrol the wall."  
"It should be easy to scale the wall then I say as we reach the wall and we toss the rope over it once again and start to climb. Once we get to the top of the wall I say.  
" I can use a spell to slow our descent if we jump. Are you ready?"  
I mutter the spell.  
"Jump!" I tell them and we do. Everything seems to be in slow motion as we slowly fall to the ground . Once our feet hit the ground I once again release all the spells I have cast and we run back to our campsite. Once we are in the trees and we are sure nobody followed us we walk the rest of the way to the camp knowing we should save our energy.  
It takes about thirty minutes to get to the camp. Once we are there my uncle whistles twice and two white horses come galloping up from seemingly nowhere one carrying a pack, my uncle's pack.  
"Eris you can take one of these horses. We will travel faster on three horses than on two." I stick the gemstone and the book in my saddlebags and we leave. It is still the middle of the night so we don't travel too far but just far enough away so nobody will be looking for us. And as we finally stop I fall out if the saddle onto the ground m, roll over to a nearby tree and fall asleep...  
In the morning I arise well rested for some unknown reason. This compels me to wake the others which I do.  
"Aaron what is wrong?" Eris asks in a groggy tone.  
"We should be moving we need to reach the varden as quick as possible."  
"Indeed" says my uncle, just sitting up.  
We pack up and leave the camp. Through most of the day we study magic for we know as soon as we get to the varden they will wish to test our skills and send us strait into battle.  
Once we stopped for the night my uncle beckoned me over to just outside the trees.  
"Aaron those books you hold are very powerful. You have not the slightest idea the power they hold So to my next words you must listen very carefully. Those books are not the weapon themselves but have the power to create a weapon greater than any forged before!"  
*flashback* (sorta)  
"Long ago before du fyrn skulblaka"  
"The dragon war correct uncle?"  
"Yes boy now be quiet. In any case long before the dragon war and before the elves, humans, or dwarves even came to this land there were three tribes that ruled over the land there were the dragons who ruled the air and controlled both air and fire, the giants who ruled the mountains and controlled the element of earth, then there were the sea serpents named the akalie who ruled the sea and controlled water. While you will not find this in any history book there was once a Great War between these three tribes. It destroyed them all. Except six of them. Two of each species. These happened to be the kings and queens of their races. At first the akalie and the giants fought but then the dragons roared an they immediately quieted. Together they made peace. But to mark their peace they made a weapon. This weapon was a sword and it was human sized. You see they made it by combining their magical powers into one an essentially created a sort of supernova of magical energy. They made a sword for none of them could wield it and if none could wield the weapon there would be no tribe that was superior to the other.  
In the end the two remaining akalie and giants failed to produce offspring and their races died out. The dragons however were a strong race and were indeed stronger then the other two. if the battle had not stopped the dragons would have been the victors, for the dragons were also smarter. The dragons knew they were too old to produce another egg however they were also smart before the war and hid all the eggs in a secret vault before the war. In total the dragon eggs equaled over two thousand, the dragon race would survive to fight another day.  
Though the dragon never forgot his oath and as to keep the sword that now controls the full powers of the giants and the akalie, from falling into the wrong hands he took it in his jaw knowing what he was about to do would kill him. And he split the blade into six pieces. These six pieces consisted of four gemstones, the blade, and the hilt."  
"So why are you telling me this?"  
"Because" he says taking his knife and cutting a piece of fabric tied to his right hand, "of this." He says showing me the palm of his hand and I back away as he does.  
"You, your a rider"  
"Was a rider."

"what happened?"

"Galberatorix happened. Galberatorix is my brother. After the tribunal would not give him another dragon he nearly killed me and bewitched my dragon shruikan. The only reason he let me live was to see the death and destruction he would wreck with my dragon and partner of my heart and soul. I will never forgive him for that and the many evil things shruikan has done, if need be I would gladly wield the blade to kill my once beloved partner for now he is nothing more but a servant.  
"I, I don't understand."  
"Aaron here is what I am getting at. These books have the power to restore the legendary sword that was splintered by the dragon king oh so many years ago."  
"And you want me to be the one to restore this sword?"  
"Yes indeed but that could be somewhat difficult."  
"How so"  
During the galberatorix's uprising queen islanzadí of the elves managed to steal the blade of the sword. However galberatorix took control of two of the gemstones and the hilt of the blade. You must understand Aaron, whoever controls this blade has the power to control the world."  
"I will try but in the mean time we must worry about what is able to be accomplished right now. what is our heading?" We must move across the burning plains to get to Surda, unless you wish to go around which will take an extra day or two."  
"No we shall go through the burning plains, we have no other choice we cannot afford to waste time."  
"Aaron one more thing"  
"Yes uncle?" I say with a sigh.  
"You like her don't you?"  
"I do admit I enjoy her company and it was logical we should travel together and she is nice to be around."  
"Aaron..."  
"Fine yes I do like her but that is none of your business old man go get some sleep we are all tired. I will take first watch.

Weeks past in much the same manor. We traveled slower than we normally would as we were all tired and at this point so close to Surda had nothing to fear.  
We arrived some two and a half weeks after our escape from Dras-Leona. The ground was barren and hot, geysers shot hot steam out of the ground. Above the plains was one huge plume of smoke swirling in a circular motion. We had arrived, this is what we had to cross. The burning plains...

**EP**: hey guys hope you enjoyed this chapter I don't really study the time frames and distances and Paolini never gave a guide In his books do I'm just making some time frames up and their distances. the akalie is just a name i made up on the spot as i figured it wouldn't be too important to you guys as i was just going to kill off their entire race anyways. in any case i'm starting production on chapter six tonight.

**Ayra**: will we be introduced soon?

**Eragon:** yes will we?

**EP:** YES! you will be introduced in the next chapter.

**Arya**: finally

**EP**: you know for a being that can live forever you sure are impatient.

**Ayra**: i have lived most of my life among humans, you cannot expect me to act like a full blooded elf.

**EP:** alright fine in any case remember to leave a review and tell me what you think about this chapter

**translations: **

Tveir fara austr mi raid/ raid of the two travelers.

sky adurna/ cloud water

du fyrn skulblaka/ the dragon war

**Word count: 3673**


	6. The Burning Plains

**EP**: greetings readers. I don't really have anything to say other than I hope you are enjoying my story so far. Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to answer them as best I can without revealing too much of the story. Also Eragon, Arya, Nasuada, and other main characters will be introduced in this chapter. This chapter also includes an excerpt from sone of the chapters in the book eldest.

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing except my own ideas and characters.

**The burning plains**

I... He tried to lie- not wanting her to know how much he had missed her- but the ancient language stopped his words dead in his mouth and rendered him mute. Finally he resorted to a technique of the elves: telling only part of the truth in order to crate an impression opposite the whole truth. "I'm better than before," he said, meaning, in his mind, the condition of his back.  
Despite his subterfuge, arya appeared unconvinced. She did not press him on the subject, though, but rather said. "I am glad."  
Nasuada's voice emanated from inside the pavilion. However before either of them could move a young boy ran up and rushed inside the pavilion. After a brief muttering Nasuada emerged from the tent and the boy rushed away.  
"You two come with me"...

"What in the world is that?"  
"I don't know uncle"  
"You humans are worthless" Eris said in a joking manor and after a minute of focusing her eyes and blocking the light with her hand.  
"It's two armies"  
"Who in their right mind would come here to wage war?"  
"It's the Varden uncle and it looks like the empire has come forth to fight them."  
"Let us go. For if this is the Varden we could help them a great deal."  
Once we are at the walls a group of sentries comes to us and surrounds us training their pikes trained on our hearts.  
"State your business"  
Quickly Aaron stated that he meant no harm and he was a friend in the ancient language.  
"What did the boy say?"  
"He says that he means no harm and he is a friend"  
"Boy yes you there tell Nasuada she is needed at the edge of the north side."...

"Nasuada what is this about. Three people have just arrived at the north end and apparently the guard says they know the ancient language. If they are magicians I want you two to examine their minds. But for now stay here" she says as she walks up to the men still training their pikes on the three people, two men and one woman but it was strange the woman had catlike eyes and pointed ears almost like an... Thinks Eragon and notes his observation to Arya just then the boy looks over nasuada's shoulder at him and she beckons them over.

"So you are the mysterious leader of the Varden?"  
"Indeed. I am Nasuada and your names are?" She asks as she beckons the men to lower their pikes.  
"I am Aaron this is my uncle Derek and my friend Eris I assure you we mean you nor the Varden no harm and will help you in any way possible. However I see you brought an elf and the dragon rider with you"  
Nasuada looks looks wearily at him but manages to keep a straight face."  
"I apologize but even if you have sworn to my men that you are a friend in the ancient language I must have somebody examine your minds this is why I have brought Arya and Eragon"  
"So that is the famous dragon riders name. We will allow you to search our minds on one condition."  
"And that is?"  
"We chose who does the searching."  
"Done. make your pick Aaron."  
"I chose her I say pointing to the great blue dragon standing behind the group. And you must swear to me in the ancient language that whomever examines our minds will not tell a single soul about what they have seen unless we give them permission."  
"Done."  
"_Oh great dragon do you have a name?_" I say linking my mind to hers.  
"_I am Saphira_"  
_"Before we go any further Saphira swear to me you will not tell a single soul what you see. Not even your rider without my permission first."_  
She quickly made the oaths and they continued. It took Saphira a good five minutes to search his mind as she was often distracted by stray thoughts.  
_"He is a friend."_  
After finishing the other two Saphira noted that they were also both allies.  
"Aaron you are a very secretive man are you not?"  
"I have many secret yes Arya but those secrets are my own."  
"Saphira did you search all of his mind?"  
"Yes I am remotely sure I did"  
"Alright then." She says but then launches a full out mental attack focused on Aaron. He defends his mind valiantly against the elf but is starting to lose. Beads of sweat start to form in both their faces and Eris links her mind to Aaron's. Eragon soon joins in on the onslaught and together they manage to win a minor victory over the two.  
"You know not what you do elf!" Derek yells as he links his mind to his nephew's and with the force of a dragon pushes the fight to them. Eragon and Arya soon are no longer attack but defending their own minds but just as Aaron, Derek, and Eris are about to break their minds Saphira slams her tail on the ground next to them knocking them all to the ground, breaking everyone's concentration.  
_"Enough!" She says projecting her thoughts to everyone in their small group. Eragon, Arya. Due to your own stubbornness you nearly had your minds broken into. Aaron you are a powerful adversary and we hope to see more of you. But for now we must know if you will fight with us during this battle_." She says, taking the words right out of nasuada's mouth.  
"We will fight."  
"I might or I might not. It depends on if I have better things to do or not."  
_"And what Derek son of asin could be more important than helping us defeat the tyrant king?_" And only projecting her thoughts to him she added "_your brother and the thief of your dragon._"  
"You shall see" he says with a sly smile.  
"You there get these three some tents. I think I've seen enough of your mental ability but I have not yet seen physical. After your tent is set up and your items put away report to our training field and find Fredric he shall test you or find somebody to test you."  
"Yes milady" He says bowing in the elvish manor while Derek does the same and Eris curtsied...  
Soon their tents were set up and packs inside. After he put his pack down he cast protective spells upon the tent as to stop anyone from seeing into or even from going into his tent. He knew he was safe for the time being but he was not about to take any chances especially when weapons as powerful as the two books her had obtained were in his pack. After that he began to seek the training field...  
After asking a squire where the training field was Aaron found it quite easily and was pleasantly surprised to find Eris and Derek already there. while Eris dueled who he assumed to be Fredric who wore an oxhide suit and a huge sword nearly as tall as himself. Derek however was dueling the young rider Eragon and though it appeared Eragon had the abilities of an elf Aaron's uncle had already landed many hits and was holding his own fairly well. Just then I feel a familiar presence behind me  
"Arya svit-kona" I say turning around and touching my first two fingers to my lips  
"Atra esterní Ono thelduin" I knew I was giving her the honor by speaking first but I saw this as an opportunity to make a powerful ally instead of a foe  
"Atra du evarínya ono varda" she replied looking visibly shocked but quickly regaining her composure.  
"In atra mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr," I finished thereby completing the ritual as I do I twist my right hand over my sternum and bow.  
"I am sorry for how I acted earlier. You are a strange man Aaron, too strange perhaps. You are not like other humans and I Misjudged you and thought you a servant of Galberatorix for only he could protect your mind from a dragon and usually only his servants are so secretive, and for this I beg your forgiveness."  
"The matter is already forgiven Ayra you see dragons are honorable creatures and even if Saphira had made the oath I asked her to make In this language I would have been satisfied for she would be honor bound to hold her side of the bargain and I held up my end by completely opening my mind to her. As for how you acted, it was reasonable and your excuses are justifiable. as for why I forgave you so quickly. elves may live forever but humans do not and especially with this war going on, life is too short to make an enemy out of a potential friend especially one as powerful as you milady."  
"You are a strange man Aaron yet very wise for your age. However, come forth for I shall be your opponent"  
"Sounds good to me" I say pulling my sword from its sheath and magically guarding the edges as Arya does the same saying  
" we don't need any major wounds or to waste our energy healing them when we could have to don our armor and go to battle any moment now."  
Eris' and Derek's battles end just as mine and Arya's begins. Derek In the end flicked his sword under Eragon's chin and pronounced him dead while after four quick tabs on Fredric's shoulders and knees Eris slid underneath fredric's legs and placed her sword at the side of his neck pronouncing him dead. But I had better things to worry about right now, such as the elf woman directly across from me studying my every move as I did just the same to her. Her stance was nearly flawless and the thin Elven blade she used was perfectly suited for her petite body. We circled around each other for some time then she struck. She jumped into the air attempting obviously to blind me with the sun but I quickly stepped backwards to avoid her blade, I sidestepped so I was at her left side and stuck but she was too fast, my sword glanced off her own blade. she struck again and again with supernatural speed, after that she attacked, never ceasing and never letting up with the persistence of her attacks and always using the same amount of force with each swing of her sword, forcing me to go on the defensive. I am slowly pushed backwards but before she pushes me back into the small crowd of people I jump into the air and over her head front flipping in order to dodge her upward stab at my chest. i land behind her and now she is blinded so I strike at her back but she once again stops my attack and soon I am back on the defensive. she manages to land a hit on me and several times and every once in awhile I manage to pull a trick she doesn't expect and manage to land a hit or two. As the battle continues I vaguely notice that more and more people are starting the watch our battle, by now I have lost all reckoning of time and I don't even remember where I am for all I am concentrated on the elven warrior in front of me and her flashing sword, as fast as light itself beaming across my vision. Though now I notice the strength of her blows has lessened considerably so I muster what remains of my strength and go on the offensive but unlike I predicted Arya stays in an offensive stance and the battle continues we swipe, lunge, jump, duck, parry, and do everything we must in order to evade the other's sword at one particular moment we both slashed at each other's ribs doing a complete 360 spin in midair. our timing exactly in tune but we both dodge the incoming blow and seeing and opening I position my sword at the front of her neck, but as I do I feel the cold steel of her own blade pressing against my esophagus.  
"Dead" we announce in unison and the crowd cheers and claps as we both sink to the ground utterly exhausted we both leaned our back against the other as neither of us could hold our balance much longer and still the crowd continues to cheer. I look out and find that the rest of the field is empty only to look out to the tents and find no one is walking between them. I accept Eris' hand and get up once again in unison Arya does the same accepting Eragon's hand.  
Derek hands me a water skin and I take a swig then pass it to Arya who accepts is gratefully.  
Then we both start laughing as more and more of the men start to leave.  
Still laughing I say.  
"You fought well Arya svit-kona."  
To this Eragon looked visibly shocked but his shock turned into more shock as Arya says.  
"As did you Aaron finiarel"  
"So what are you two like best friends now?" Asked Eragon slightly jealous and still replaying Arya's laugh over and over in his mind for him it was hypnotic.  
"You should probably keep those thoughts out of your mind little one you know they will do more harm than good."  
"I know Saphira I know"  
"In fact we are friends, allies, and now apparently I have a new rival of the sword." Stated Arya.  
Arya If you would like you could come to my tent tonight after supper I am always looking for good company, Eragon you are invited as well."  
"I might take you up on that offer" says Arya "but first I must attend to my duties."  
"Arrive at any time you like I will be awake."  
"I will not be joining you as I have other matters to attend to"  
"Very well Eragon I look forward to seeing you at a later time then. Was anybody timing that? How long were we fighting?"  
"You two were at it for at least a good hour or more. Actually some of the guards abandoned their posts and came to watch but Nasuada came and threatened to give them double watches if they didn't get back to their posts, however she stayed to watch the rest of your fight. I reckon she just left." Notes Eris

_"little one why are you acting this way?_" Though she knew perfectly why as he walked away from the training field.  
"_Saphira will you please just leave me be?_"  
"_If time is what you need time is what you shall get. I cannot have my rider distraught right before we fly into battle._" And with the she exited he mind except for the tiniest tendril of thoughts she always kept linked to him although she could not hear his thoughts or feel his emotions...

Later that day Arron met with Eragon and Saphira on their way to Nasuada's pavilion. We were greeted by a flash of swords as we pushed through the flap that acted as a door.  
"Eragon, Aaron come here.  
"What is your bidding?" We asked in unison.  
"We have found some hundred kull approach from the northeast."  
A savage grin appeared on Eragon's face. "It will be a pleasure to eliminate them for you milady Saphira and myself could do it singlehandedly if you wished."  
"We cannot do that Eragon they are flying a white flag and have asked to talk with me.  
"Surely you do not intend to speak with them! They are beasts, monsters, nothing more than brutish animals."  
"You forget, I fought in Fathen-dur same as you. And yes I saw the urgals commit hideous crimes but I also saw our own men committing those same crimes."  
"Milady it is too dangerous for you to meet with a kull"  
"Too dangerous? While I am protected by Eragon and Aaron two of the best swordsmen in this entire camp? And by Saphira, elva, and all the warriors around me? I think not"  
"Lady Nasuada I have done many study on urgals and there are a few things that happen when you first meet one will you allow me to act on your behalf for this ritual? If it is done incorrectly you could risk offending him and I doubt you want to do that."  
"Very well Aaron you will complete the ritual with our guest then we shall proceed."  
"Thank you milady"  
Less than five minutes later jeers and roars of anger erupted from the eastern side of the camp. The jeers grew louder until a single kull entered their view walking toward Nasuada and myself who was standing in front of her. He was an easy eight and a half feet tall with muscular and rather proud features. His clothing consisted of a loincloth and a few pieces of iron held together by what remained of a mail shirt between his horns was a small piece of metal designed to protect the top of his head. He walked up to me and roared. despite the swords and pikes that were pointed at him he continued to roar until his lungs were empty though most would at least flinch i stood my ground knowing that if i did flinch he would think me a weakling. When he had finished I took a deep breath and gave my best roar back which might I add was fairly convincing.  
"Mighty urgal I know the proper response is to butt heads but I only being a human would most likely not live if we did" I say raising my chin and revealing my throat. "Do you have a name oh mighty one?"  
"I am Nar Garzhvog of the belvek tribe. I speak on behalf of my people."  
"You are among friends here Nar Garzhvog so long as you do not attack us we shall not attack you nor your rams."  
"Lady nightstalker I was promised safe passage. Do all humans break their word so easily?"  
"The Varden are not liars like Galberatorix you need not fear anything while we are under the banner of truce"  
"Lady nightstalker our people have grown much in numbers as of late. We need land to breed and to wage war on. The harsh land we live in could no longer feed us."  
"So you made a pact with galberatorix"  
"Aye but that slack jawed traitor tricked us. His flame haired shaman made our people fight together as is not our way. We will fight with you if you will let us."  
"There must be something you want in return"  
"Blood. Galberatorix's blood, and land so our people may breed and fight once again."  
"Very well Nar Garzhvog you and your warriors may biovouac along the eastern flank of our army away from the main body and we shall discuss the terms of our pact"  
"You are wise lady nightstalker"  
"Why do you call me that?"  
"Because the color of your hide and how your father hunted us underneath the tunnels of the dwarves hollow mountain, as his cub you are worthy of the same name." And with that he left.  
"Anyone who attacks an urgal will be punished as if he had attacked a fellow human see to it that the word is posted throughout the camp."  
Just then a sentry entered the tent.  
"Lady Nasuada a lone horseman approaches from the empire!"  
I rush out of the pavilion and follow the crowd of people toward the edge of the camp. When we were there the soldier reared his black stallion about 30 yard from the defenses the Varden had put in place. He then shouted "by refusing king galberatorix's generous terms of surrender, you chose death as your fate. No more shall we negotiate. The hand of friendship had turned into the fist of war..." It was at this point that I tuned him out and went to settle by Nasuada and her guards to await orders. Eventually I assume after he finished his speech he threw a decapitated head at the Varden and the crowd gasped then he turned to leave but at he did, Saphira reared above the ramparts and loosed a mighty roar this needless to say spooked the soldiers horse which sent the soldier flying over right above a gout of fire which erupted at that very instant. The Varden cheered and I myself cracked a grin. The birds circling above the battlefield began to descend...  
"Eragon. Assemble du vrangr gata I suspect they will attack at dawn."  
"Aaron warn Eris and Derek."

Night had fallen. I had just exited the dinner tent when I saw Eragon buckling saphira's armor onto her body which was glowing from the firelight making it look as though her scales were alive and rippling with fire. Eris and Derek had already retired to their tents saying they were going to review some new spells together. I walk over to Eragon and notice There is a dwarf with him as well.  
"Aren't you supposed to be with Arya?" Asks Eragon  
"She has not yet arrived at my tent and even if she had she would not be able to go in and I would be alerted"  
"You put wards on your tent?"  
"Yes indeed don't get me wrong it's not that I don't like company it's just that I have some rather valuable possessions in there that I'd rather not have touched."  
"Hmm." Eragon states silently  
"I don't believe we have had the pleasure of meeting, have we master dwarf?"  
"No we have not, I am Orik I will be leading the dûrgrimst ingeitium in this battle. However I do know you Aaron you are the one who defeated Arya in single combat."  
"Does everybody I meet have to bring that up?"  
"Of course they do! Nobody has ever landed a killing blow on Arya, never! The entire camp was watching you two, do you realize you were battling for three hours strait?"  
"What!"  
"Indeed I placed a bet with one of du vrangr gata so that she witch Trianna magically timed it for us."  
"And the outcome?"  
"We'll let's say she won't be going into any merchants shops any time soon" he says lightly chucking while shaking his coin purse in his hand.  
"I'd love to stay and chat but I have other places I must be. However, Eragon would you come here for a moment?"  
"Uhh yea sure"  
I lead him over away from the fire.  
"Eragon we didn't have the Best of  
Run ins when we first met. Arya has already apologized but I don't want you to instead I brought you here so I could apologize to you. Eragon, I see the way you look at Arya I hear the way your voice changes when she comes around, it's not to terribly hard to tell you are in love with her if you know how to read the signs. I can also tell that she has not yet accepted your approaches."  
"Why are you telling me this?"  
"Because I can also see that you are jealous of me. I saw the look of disgust you gave me after my battle with her I am here to tell you that I have no interest for Arya in a romantic light, my interest for her is that of a friend, an ally, and a shield-mate. Eragon you have many enemies already so you should know this better than anyone, it is better to make a powerful person your ally rather than your enemy."  
"That's why you wanted to talk to me? Because you wanted my friendship?"  
"Indeed you think of me right now as a rival and a possible enemy, however if you were to think of me as a friend I believe we could accomplish so much more together."  
"I will accept your terms of friendship but don't think friendship comes without rivalry haha"  
"I will see you on the battlefield then my friend!"  
"Indeed you shall!"  
As I turn to leave I hear another voice that I quickly recognize as Saphira saying.  
"Thank you"  
When she turns her back I walk away, knowing I needed to get back to my tent and study some more on those books.  
Just as I arrive at my tent and removed the wards I had placed around it Arya suddenly appears behind me.  
"Good evening Ayra"  
"Indeed, to you as well Aaron."  
"Shall we go inside?"  
"Yes thank you" she says as I open the flap that acts as a door.  
"I see you have already made yourself at home."  
"No. I don't have a home."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Brisingr" I say lighting the lantern hanging above our heads.  
"This might be a rather long story so would you like something to eat or drink? Tea perhaps?"  
"That would be nice, thank you. But Aaron why are you being so nice to me?"  
He doesn't answer for awhile and I watch him as he piles up a few measly twigs and lights them afire again, then he casts another spell to control the fire only allowing it to move within a certain area. After that he makes a makeshift spit and puts a tea kettle on it which he then fills with water also using magic. Only then does he go over to his pack digging out a few herbs and a bottle of something I have never seen before. Finally he speaks  
"Tell me what is bothering you Arya, you seem rather stressed."  
Knowing she had been caught she didn't know what to say, though she contemplated how he could know what she was feeling as she usually wore her emotionless mask over her face and never let anybody see through that.  
"H.. How did you know I was stressed? I mean obviously to answer your question this war for one but, how?"  
"My apologies you see I was blessed with a gift at birth though somewhat of a curse I have to ability to feel ones innermost emotions without the use of going into their mind I don't chose when I use it I just always know, though it does help in political discussions a lot. In any case do you know what this is?" He says holding up the bottle he had pulled out of his pack.  
"No what is it" I ask noticing that there is but a small bit left in the bottle.  
"This is a powder ground from the petals of a plant that grows only in one specific place in the Hadarac desert if you consume it, the toxins inside the plant will calm your nerves, neutralize pain, and calm your mind as well for a limited time usually with a dose this size only about five hours. However you see the thing about this plant is that it takes thirty five years to mature and then it dies in only three days. In order to make this powder the plant must be plucked on the first day of its death cycle, if you pluck it after the first day the toxins will not work and if you pluck it before it starts to die and consume it the toxins will kill you. My uncle was lucky enough to find these the exact day they had started dying you are dealing with not only the stress of this war but many other things as well I can sense it. Take this and you don't need to drink it tonight but when you need it you can use it. It is not a drug so you will be fully coherent and in control of your body and mind,all It does is calm your nerves and mind. In any case here you are" he says tossing the bottle to me. He then puts the herbs And spices into the kettle and leaves it there sitting on a small stool, he then gestures for me to sit and I do.  
"After my parents died when I was nine years old my uncle adopted me. However this goes back before that. You see, my father was a merchant so he was away a lot. Alas he was poor and many times when he was away my mother and I could not afford food. I started going to the streets more and more often I had to steal food just to make sure my mother and I would not starve, this is where I originally learned street smarts and picked up many of my skills. In any case my uncle taught me many things including swordsmanship and magic. My uncle traveled a lot as well but his traveling was not business instead he traveled mostly to gather rare plants, herbs, and a great many ancient and magical items. You see I traveled with him and I enjoyed it. I was driven from my home by galberatorix's soldiers and so I wander. I am a warrior with no cause to go to war, a trader with no goods to trade, I do not belong anywhere."  
"Right now you do have a cause right here your cause is to help us."  
"At least for right now I have a cause" he says pulling out a book from his pack opening it to a marked page.  
"What is that?"  
"This" he says digging in his pack again. "Is the second volume of this" he says tossing me another book.  
"What is this?"  
"These are guides to everything you can imagine and if I'm correct there are six of them."  
"So where are the other four?"  
"Most likely three are in galberatorix's treasury and the other is with the queen of the elves. Both of them include detailed information on dragons and magic however there is so far been a third race added to these books. The one you hold right now describes the ra'zac it tells you their strengths weaknesses and the easiest way to kill them it also includes basically all the information of their race's rituals such as mating rituals, or rite of passage."  
"Aaron these spells are not normal you would have to have five or six elves to cast even one of them."  
"Some of these are the secrets of the dragon rider elders, spells they wanted nobody to learn for they were too dangerous."  
"We should burn these books these are too dangerous."  
"You think I haven't tried? Go ahead toss it in the fire"  
She does as I say but it doesn't burn instead the book seems to absorb the heat.  
"The book has protective spells all around it. It can't be destroyed and I can't remove them neither can my uncle."  
"So what do race does that book describe?" She asks taking the book out of the fire and handing it back to me but is surprised to find it is ice cold.  
"This book describes not one race but many. It describes the animals that live on Vroengard island."  
"So what does your uncle plan to do that could be more important than fighting in this battle?"  
"Oh he will be fighting Justin his own way"  
"Which is?"  
"Haha you'll see soon enough especially if they attack in the morn as we suspect. And Arya you never answered my question. What is bothering you?"  
"It's nothing really but thank you for your concern"  
I knew he could tell I was lying but he did not pursue the matter.  
"So other than you and Eragon who else knows magic around here?"  
" we have a group of magicians who call themselves du vrangr gata or"  
He stopped me mid sentence.  
"The wandering path, I know however they must be rather week magicians for their own name betrays their ignorance properly it should be du gata vrangr."  
"Yes we all know that and you are correct they are rather weak most of them can only heal a few scratches if that."  
"Hmm"  
"Aaron how do you know so much of our people?"  
"My uncle" he says simply " he was a dragon rider and," he stops here but then continues "the brother of our most hated enemy."  
Arya draws her sword and places it at my neck  
"Peace my Elvin friend let me finish. When galberatorix's dragon died and the tribunal of dragon elders refused to give him another dragon he was outraged my uncle being younger than him was no match for his skill. He nearly killed my uncle and bewitched his dragon Shruikan my uncle is no monster like galberatorix and even he would gladly destroy Shruikan if it meant he would no longer be bewitched by that monster." He says this in the ancient language as to confirm his words. She puts her sword back in its sheath and sits back down... After that we talked for hours concerning the Varden, the battle tomorrow among many other things.  
"In any case Arya it is late and we should at least get some rest before the morning I say holding the door flap open once again.  
"Thank you for your hospitality Aaron I will try to find you before the fighting starts."  
"If you need me after the battle starts I should be on the front lines, you see as Nasuada still does not know our skills she is letting us do what we will as long as we fight therefore I will be in the front lines or infiltrating the enemy ranks and killing their commanding officers. In any case goodnight Arya."  
And with that she leaves. Once she does I snuff my lantern, lay down on the cot and fall asleep.

**EP:** hey guys hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll be starting production on the next one tonight. Is anybody else excited to find out what Aaron's uncle is going to be doing? Guess you'll just have to wait and see. Is anybody wondering how Aaron managed to even tie with Arya? Haha all things will be answered in time my faithful readers but for now you must wait.

**word count: 5644**

**EP:** there are you two happy now? you got introduced into the story

**Arya**: indeed we are writer, thank you.

**Eragon**: yes thank you writer what part will Aaron play in the battle of the burning plains?

**EP**: you shall see haha but you will have to wait just like the readers.


	7. The Beginning, The End

**EP:** hey guys once again I have nothing to say so I'll get right to it then.

**Disclaimer:** I am not Christopher paolini so I do not and probably never will own the inheritance cycle.

**The Beginning, The End**

I awaken and immediately start to prepare. First I hide the books, I know I can't actively sustain the wards around my tent during battle so I dig a small hole put them in a chest and bury them. Next I don my armor, it's not much for its what I could carry with me, a simple mail shirt covered by leather body armor, on my legs I wore a pair of greaves made from hardened leather and on my head I wore a solid helm of dwarfish make, however the chain mail was of elvish make and would not break easily and there was hardly a blade that could pierce it. When I was finished I ate a piece of bread and some meat knowing it could be the last good meal I could have for awhile. After checking and rechecking the amount of energy in my own ring I decide to store a bit more in it then leave. As I look outside its still night the sun hasn't even shone it's first rays yet. I walk through the camp and it seems baron, if not for the snores of men and the sentries patrolling the camp you might have thought this was some sort of post apocalyptic campsite. By now the first few rays start to shine up over the horizon and I spot Saphira, she is up on two legs with her chest puffed out. Then I spot Arya who is standing next to Saphira, the two wemon were so exotic and if you knew their personalities you would look at them and think,  
"a mirror image of both body and soul" I say aloud  
"Aaron" they say, their minds melded into one.  
" Saphira, Arya, I assume the battle has not yet begun."  
"Not yet but we know not when it will, with such a short distance between our camps chances are we won't know until the moment the empire attacks."  
" Nasuada couldn't have picked a worse spot really."  
" how so?" By this time Saphira had removed herself from Arya's mind.  
"There are no materials here, no ores, and no water. Arya there is not even water in the air here. There is nothing to work magic with, all there is in this place is sand,dirt, and solid stone. Any magic we use will be severely limited to what we have while we are out there."  
"Aaron I don't think you understand you are talking of the elements, stone, water, fire, and air. What were you taught of magic?"  
"I was taught the easiest spells to cast are those that manipulate things that are already there, therefore i try to only use elemental spells when I can as they require less energy than most other spells."  
"You are right for the most part, they are easier to cast and if those are the spells you wish to use during battle I suggest you find a new way of looking at things." Then she walks off most likely to speak with Nasuada  
"Aaron her advice is wise I suggest you look into the ground a little farther."  
"Thank you for your advice Saphira."  
Look into the ground farther, what does she mean by that? So he decided to decipher it like he would a riddle.  
The first part is obvious I need to look deeper, but into the ground? Perhaps I need to think of what I said to Arya. I named off the things there were. Stone,dirt, sand, obviously there is air but what am I missing?  
I smack my forehead as I figure it out, "Saphira wasn't laying out a riddle she meant It literally. I need to look deeper into the ground." I say aloud. I then place my hand to the ground, close my eyes, and concentrate on the forces of magic flowing around me... They were right haha! There are hotspots filled with magma underneath this entire plain and better yet if I look even deeper into the ground past the first layers of rock and stone there are small underground caves that give way into larger ones these caves hold increasing amounts of water the farther down you search.  
I decide i should go to Eris' tent and help her prepare..,  
"Aaron!" She says when I open the tent flap.  
"You know you should not let your guard down like that Eris, I could have been an assassin" I say walking over to her i remove her hands from her neck and work from the top down bucking and tightening the straps and strings that hold her armor together which for the most part was very light chain and leather that probably would protect her from an arrow but not a sword.  
"Where do you plan to fight Eris?"  
"With Nasuada she asked me to accompany her so Arya could do her work and not be hindered by the other warriors guarding her."  
"We must go soon the battle might begin any time now."  
"Where will you fight Aaron?"  
"On the front lines I will be most useful there of anywhere or I will be infiltrating the enemies ranks and killing their commanding officers."  
"May the stars watch over you then." And with that we both leave her tent  
Just then the entire camp springs to life and Nasuada rides up to us on her roan charger. Aaron, Eris, get in your positions their soldiers are sleeping and we may be able to sneak up on them, Orrin and the urgals are in position here take these to quiet your armor" she says throwing us some rags. Just then I notice the child that is riding with her, she has violet eyes and a silvery mark on her brow she stares at me intently as Eris takes her position next to Nasuada's horse and leaves.  
I then pad my armor as instructed and take my place at the front of the camp with all the other men I also see Eragon along the men but without Saphira so I acknowledged him with a simple nod. Soon Saphira and Nasuada joins us along with Eris and Arya, as Arya takes her place at Eragon's side we start to move. Across the baron wasteland that is called the burning plains...  
We manage to get three quarters of the way across the field separating the two camps before the imperial sentries spot us.  
"Know Eragon! tell Orrin's men to strike. To me, men of the Varden! Fight to win back your homes. Fight to guard your wives and children! Fight to overthrow galberatorix! Attack and bathe your blades in the blood of our enemies! Charge! Nasuada shouted spurring her horse forward. I run forward unsheathing my sword unleashing a terrible battle cry. The two armies collided with a deafening roar as I cut down my first enemy, slicing through many more I see Saphira wing her way into the battle Eragon sitting comfortably in the saddle she wore with a bloodthirsty grin on his face. I continue slashing, ducking, cleaving, and overall decimating the enemy troops. I had killed many and even had a partner, one of the Kull had fought by me so far and had watched my back just as I had watched his, multiple times we saved each other from deadly blows and each time we did we gave each other a quick nod then a grim smile as we rushed back into battle though his was more bloodthirsty than grim. By this time the imperial soldiers had recovered from the varden's initial attack and had begun to fire their engines of war. Ballista, catapults, and trebuchets, each armed with their own ammunition of choice. The machines kill many but I see Eragon going for them, but then He stops dead in his tracks... A few moments later one of the catapults collapses to the ground injuring many in the process. Just then I feel something in the back of my mind and as I attempt to see who or what it is but before i can it flees from the mental contact. I knew I could help Eragon take out some of those machines so I do. I jump back off the front lines and gesture for my friend the Kull as he does I pull my bow off my back.  
"I need you to cover me while I help Firesword dismantle those machines," I say using the urgals nickname for Eragon. He gives me a simple nod and brandishes his Great War axe loosing a roar at an enemy soldier who foolishly engaged him right before his head was severed from the rest of his body.  
I fire an arrow into the air then I access the flow of magic to magically guide it. I do this and just as the soldiers are loading more ammunition into a trebuchet the arrow frays one of the main supporting ropes and as they attempt to fire the weapon it flips backwards on them most likely killing a few. I fire more arrows and do the same for the next three trebuchet knowing arrows would only damage the ropes I stopped there letting Eragon finish the rest of the machines. Just as I rush forward again I see my Kull friend taking on a group of a dozen soldiers, he fought valiantly but there are too many, a spear sprouts from his stomach as does a sword but to my amazement he stands back up as I get there to cleave an enemy in two. He stumbles but takes hold of his war axe and helps me finish the remaining enemies, just as I decapitate the last enemy he throws his war axe, it spins through the air an knocks over a group of four soldiers, killing two. Then the Kull collapsed, dead. I loosed a roar so fierce then it challenged that of the urgals and I charged head on into the soldiers not caring of the danger to myself I link my mind to the minds of the dying bodies of animals and men alike summoning a power greater than and before I say one word "Fornask!" And as the energy leaves my body i feel the lives of those i used for the spell be extinguished and my own energy drops a substantial amount so much that I have to drop to one knee, panting just to regain my breath but I know it was worth it as I look up to see my work. entire battalions of imperial soldiers drop dead on the spot but there is no bodies instead as their bodies hit the ground they turn to dust. The imperial soldiers looked shocked and afraid but I know what i did wasn't what they were afraid of for they were all looking up as hundreds of bats and crows flocked to one area I see this as my uncle ahead of me putting a hand on my should he says, "stay back for a little while, I'll take it from here" then I see it, all the bats and crows are flocking to him! He dives into the imperial soldiers wildly gesticulating with his hands sending the bats and crows off in those directions the. He draws his sword and dives into the battle himself and as soldiers come closer to him he cuts many down and the soldiers surround him but as they do the bats and crows surround him in an even tighter circle so all you see is a wall of black. The soldiers stabbed violently at the wall of animals but they could not get past them, every once in awhile a sword darted out from the center of the cylinder and kill one of the soldiers. Many of the wing flappers died and as they did I harvested their energy greedily knowing I would need it. By the time the soldiers around him were dead he still had a complete cylinder around him for whenever any of the wing flappers died new ones would replace them but then my uncle released the spell controlling the animals and let them go, they flew away in a fury biting scratching and inviting hundreds of soldiers even pecking out some of their eyes but all the injuries were on the empire's side and not the Varden's. my uncle comes to me and collapses unconscious I manage to catch him before he hits the ground. I carry him all the way to the back of the army where I tell one of the men there to take him to the infirmity as I know the soldiers at the back of the army rarely get any bloodshed anyways. Then I run back into battle, the hundreds of animals that had died had replenished my energy a small amount but I was nowhere close to a good nights rest. I threw these thoughts out of mind as I jump back into battle finding Arya just as Eragon and Saphira fly directly over us. "Shall we dance?" I ask her glancing up to saphira's leg  
He acknowledges me with a nod, informing Saphira of our plan she flys lower and we each grab one of her legs. She flys over the soldiers and we drop somewhere a good fifty yards from the varden's current front lines but they are rapidly pushing forward. Arya draws her sword the same time I draw mine but as we do Drums pound and a roar erupts from the back of the empire and a red dragon shot Into the sky. I take no more notice as an imperial soldier attacks me, I did not react quick enough but Arya did, her blade blocked the man's incoming blade as she kicked another man to the ground most likely killing shoving his ribs into his major organs and killing him. That is all the time I need however as I slide my sword through the man's ribcage and he drops to the ground dead. Then Arya and I start our dance it is a grim dance indeed yet impressive nonetheless if you were to watch you would see our movements perfectly in tune protecting not only ourselves but each other as well. It was a dance much like our dance with each other during our duel against each other only this time on a much larger scale. At one point we both turned around swiftly and our faces are only centimeters apart as we each jab at a soldier behind each other I raise my eyebrows in a sly manor with a grim on my face, to this Ayra also has a sly grin on her face as we pull our swords free from our enemies bodies. The gore spills from our enemies wounds as we kill soldier after soldier never stopping to check on each other but always trusting the other to watch our back. At one point however we so stop, we are surrounded men pointing spears at us I turn around and give Arya another sly smile our silent communication was our salvation for she nodded and I picked her up, turning around and tossing her into the air. She spins in midair and the soldiers around us gasp I myself know what the soldiers are thinking or I am thinking is as well. The battle had worn on for most of the day an it was now dusk, the setting sun made Arya's sword glow a molten white and made her body itself gleam a golden color and made her look like a goddess. She landed on two soldiers doing a double axel just before she landed and our dance resumed as we start cutting down our enemies once again we stop as we find our swords positioned on the sides of each other's necks and we slide forward until our shoulders touch killing the men behind us. And we finally fall to the ground utterly exhausted as the Varden's soldiers rush past us. I then use some energy in my ring to replenish some of my strength and offer some to Arya as well but she refuses. And we stand up again our movements completely in unison as we rush back into the battle our blades glowing molten white in the setting sun... darkness is starting to fall on the burning plains but still we keep fighting, and by the end of the day we earned ourselves a great many wounds.  
Though the bulk of their forces remained intact, the Empire had sounded a retreat, no doubt to regroup and prepare for a second attempt to invade Surda.  
later that night Arya, Eragon, and Eris all burst into my tent.  
"I was expecting you" I say taking the tea I was making off the fire and pouring it into four different cups handing one to each of them. as Eragon begins using spells to check for poison I say.  
"you need not fear poison here rider I am a friend. there is a platter of fruit and vegetables on the other stool over there" I say pointing to a corner, Eragon looks at me suspiciously but gets up and grabs an apple from the platter then sits back down on the cot with Eris and Arya. "in any case no I refuse to teach you how to use the spell I used during the battle, it nearly knocked me unconscious after I was already using the remaining energy of over a hundred dying soldiers and animals. not to mention I had to completely alter the flow of magic around me in order to cast it, another reason is I don't exactly know how I did what I did, I know what the spell did but I don't know what I did in order to complete the spell, I know that I had to alter the flow of magic in some kind of special way but I don't know how I altered it. therefore even if I wanted to teach you I couldn't"  
"so what exactly did the spell do?" asked Eris  
"quite simple actually it aged the soldiers bodies so they were ancient and therefore crumbled into dust."  
"so you're telling us you don't know how to actually use the spell and you can't teach us and even if you did you still wouldn't teach us"  
"precisely. you are however free to decipher the answers to your questions on your own"  
"what do you mean?" asked Eragon  
"this" I say tossing him the first book, the one containing the secrets of the Ra'zac "however I doubt you being the righteous person you are Eragon would use any of the spells in there and will most likely attempt to burn that book so I will say to you, go ahead." at this arya smirked but quickly regained her normal expressionless face. soon after, they finished their tea and left the tent, standing outside Eragon confronted Arya.  
"There is something he isn't telling us."  
"and how would you know that? he just gave you that book, apparently that book along with five others is the key to ultimate salvation or something like that ultimate enlightenment or just boundless power."  
"so if he's so powerful why is he not the dragon rider? why isn't he the one getting chased by Galberatorix, why isn't he the one leading the Varden into battle? and why arya am I here instead of back home with my family, with Garrow, with Roran, and with a new sister in law? why did it have to be me Arya? and why is it me if everybody seems to like him more?"  
"Eragon have you ever thought he doesn't want to be the hero? he might have things you don't and powers that you haven't unlocked, and he may use spells that you refuse to use but he isn't the Hero, you are! Saphira chose you! there are people in this world Eragon that don't want to be the hero but still want to be noticed, Aaron is one of those people. he wants to be noticed but not seen heard when he doesn't make a sound, and felt when he is leagues away. Eragon he isn't trying to replace you he is trying to become something else entirely, he's trying to become something that isn't human, elf, or dwarf, not a hero but something else, something strange and mysterious something that doesn't stand against their enemies but haunts them instead, he's trying to become a legend but more than that he wants to be a ghost, something that you know is there but is never seen."  
"Eragon!" calls Aaron as he walks out of his tent "Arya is right I'm not trying to replace you, I can do things that others can't because I have no rules, no limitations. I do what I have to do and I don't ask questions, even if it's wrong, and every night my mind punishes me for it. during the day I am invincible, during the night I am reduced to little more than a child hiding under the covers, I sit in a corner every night trying to embrace what I do and try to accept that even though its wrong it's what has to be done, I can perform the act but I pay for it afterwards, but still I continue, do you know why?"  
"no why?"  
"because I must, because if I don't I'm just another human, even if I'm skilled in magic and with a blade it doesn't matter because what I do is what I've done my who life, I embrace it but still it punishes me harshly. what we do in life shapes who we are, this is the only thing I know, this is the only thing I can do and without it I'm nobody. *sigh* as long as I can remember I've wanted revenge on Galberatorix, his soldiers killed my parents and he stole my uncles dragon."  
"you mean shuikahn is…"  
"Galberatorix's slave, he is nothing more than a simple animal now and my uncle has already said he will strike the final blow against him if necessary"  
"wow your family is harsh"  
"we do what is necessary nothing more, nothing less. if we don't do what we must who will? Eragon that rider on the red dragon said something to you, and you didn't even land a scratch on him, I could tell he wasn't wounded when he left."

"hide it if you must I will find out eventually. Eragon stay the same, people think I am more powerful than you but I'm not I am far weaker than you, not in physical energy but of will. I do things that you would never do because you have limits, while I may have limits I force my not to know them. your limits are what make you strong, they protect you from being corrupted, Eragon, don't try to be more like me is what I'm trying to say if you do then I fear all hope is lost for all of us, not just you and me, but the entirety of the Varden and the empire as well, you have a responsibility to uphold to the entire world as the last free dragon rider not to be corrupted."  
"I think you'll be needing this back then" he says attempting to hand me the book  
"no that book also holds the secrets of the Ra'zac in it, I heard what you are planning to do with your cousin, a brave thing to do indeed but family is family a suppose. just bring it back to my tent before you leave for the black spires, I don't want to know what would happen if Galberatorix got his hands on this book again…" and with that we parted ways both Arya and Saphira once again said in unison. "_thank you Aaron_" and with that I went back into my tent and fell asleep

**End Of Book Two**  
**The story will continue in**  
**Book Three Of Inheritance**

**EP:** Hey guys hope you enjoyed. Sorry it took me so long to post this I can't say I had writers block it was more like lack of inspiration I didn't know really how to write a large scale battle scene having never written one before, so tell me what you think of that. You will also notice I left out a lot this because even though I had the sudden urge to write this I still have never written a large scale battle scene.

Fornask: grow ancient

**word count**: 4,011


	8. A New Beginning

**EP:** hey guys I'm back open for business here is chapter 8 of Another Player. But first I'd like to ask, I got a review from Stapet telling me he liked the unusual battle scene with Derek, the lethrblaka, and the fethrblaka. Tell me what you thought about that scene in a review if you'd please. If you do I might write more strange battle scenes. And I am pleased to say that this my dear readers is when this story should start to get really interesting. also remember that mental speech is in italics

**Previously:** "Hide it if you must, I will find out eventually. Eragon stay the same, people think I am more powerful than you but I'm not I am far weaker than you, not in physical energy but of will. I do things that you would never do because you have limits, while I may have limits I force my not to know them. your limits are what make you strong, they protect you from being corrupted, Eragon, don't try to be more like me is what I'm trying to say if you do then I fear all hope is lost for all of us, not just you and me, but the entirety of the Varden and the empire as well, you have a responsibility to uphold to the entire world as the last free dragon rider not to be corrupted."  
"I think you'll be needing this back then" he says attempting to hand me the book  
"no that book also holds the secrets of the Ra'zac in it, I heard what you are planning to do with your cousin, a brave thing to do indeed but family is family a suppose. just bring it back to my tent before you leave for the black spires, I don't want to know what would happen if Galberatorix got his hands on this book again…"

**A new beginning**

We had all settled in with the Varden, Eris and Derek were constantly in their tents or traveling around the varden's camp in search of plants and herbs that could be used in potion, they often times went alone and other times they went with the herbalist Angela who had a large cat with her, after many conversations with this strange woman she finally revealed to me that he was a were-cat, a race thought to be all but extinct since galberatorix had risen to power over 100 years ago. Just before a week had past Eragon had come back to my tent in order to return the book he had borrowed from me in order to get some edge on the ra'zac, even though Eragon now had the abilities of an elf he felt that the edge would come in handy at some point or another as the ra'zac were powerful foes. A day after he returned the book he had left  
The days after that life returned to normal, or as normal as life could be among the Varden, I caught myself at the urgals camp a lot of the time, other times in nasuada's tent, even at the tent that served at du vrangr gata's HQ. most of all though I was In my room by myself, I was never a very social person to begin with, but the large crowd and tight spaces of the Varden's camp along with everybody still gawking over my battle with Arya every time I walked by.  
A few days had past and Saphira was seen flying towards the Varden.  
A huge group had gathered around the only suitable spot for her to land without trampling dozens of tents, the center of the Varden, just at the bottom of the hill Nasuada's tent sat upon. Though the group had gathered which consisted of all the major leaders in the camps and the urgals alongside the dwarves it took Saphira another ten minutes to reach the Varden. I extend my mind out to the great blue dragon now circling above us only to find out there are only three minds, Saphira's, Roran Eragon's cousin, and a female who is supposedly Roran's bride to be. But Eragon is nowhere to be seen.  
A few minutes later Saphira had landed and I walked into a conversation between A dwarf I did not know, Arya, Nar Garzhvog, and Nasuada.  
"Grimstnzboritg Hrothgar adopted Eragon into his family and clan, that is mine own clan, as you know, and we owe him the loyalty of law and our blood" said the dwarf. The. Arya knelt and started to unlace and retire certain sections of her boots.  
"Saphira, where exactly did you last touch Eragon's mind?"  
A brief silence ensued  
"And have you any idea what path he was intending to follow?"  
Another brief silence  
Arya then sprung to her feet but before she could say anything I made myself noticed.  
"Arya I am coming with you, not to mention a woman traveling by her lonesome looks suspicious"  
"No Aaron you cannot run as fast as me and I will have to search everywhere possible in the shortest possible time if I wish to find Eragon"  
"You once again underestimate my power" I say closing eyes, I did not use the ancient language for what I was doing was not magic but something else entirely. I opened my eyes and they were now golden, then my body started to transform, fur started to grow on my body and I sank to my hands which were rapidly transforming to paws, the cloths I was wearing which consisted of a pair of leather pants and a thin woolen shirt ripped and fell off my body as they were bent in ways they were not meant to. When the transformation was complete I was standing before the group completely transformed into a new body, the body of a wolf. I mentally contacted the entire group, _"I will run with you Arya, but I need excessive amounts of water if I am going to run, I can carry it on my back if somebody could find me a small sack"_  
I stared at the animal In front of me in amazement his white and grey fur rippled in the slight wind that blew through the camp, his golden eyes gleamed in the setting sun, his breathing was surprisingly normal even though he had just worked powerful magic, even without the ancient language and the transformation had only taken a few seconds.  
soon a soldier came back with a small sack filled with water-skins it had a single strap that would wrap around my stomach most comfortably.  
_"Go ahead_" I mentally tell Arya as this body cannot actually form words from its mouth.  
She kneels down once again to knee hight and takes the sack from the soldier positioning it on top of my back as she would a horse's saddle, then she reached underneath my stomach and tied the straps together, securing the pouch which was full of water-skins.  
"Let's go" she says, and she bolts, running faster than any human possibly could, I follow, running along side her just as fast as the small elf.  
We keep mental contact at all times knowing we could have to stop or slow down at a moments notice if we saw anybody at all on the road, though we had the advantage, we both had enhanced sight, Arya being an elf and my wolf sight. All in all being a wolf wasn't too bad but there were certain disadvantages to Being a dog, namely the fur, it was constantly hot out even though clouds were covering the sun. Though I did have to admit the fur was nice during the winter months, I had found myself transforming into this form a great many nights when I had done something wrong and was punished to sleep outside, I had to admit honestly though the claws were worse, have you ever tried to cut your nails without opposable thumbs? We kept our minds linked but for the most part Arya and I ran together in silence, only stopped every couple of hours for us to take a swig of water then continue onward. Eventually we were both exhausted and had to stop for food, however by that time night was falling upon the endless land we were traversing. We had pulled off into a small clearing a good mile from the road as to avoid being spotted.  
"So are you going to tell me?" She voices out loud  
" Let me _How I can become a wolf?tell you I did not use magic, well I sort of didn't use magic."_

"how can you, sort of, not use magic?"

_"Don't light a fire_!" I say urgently as I feel what she is thinking"  
"Ok..."  
I walk over to her lay spread my body alongside hers, half laying on her half not, my outer coat of fur automatically warms her body.  
"You realize this is slightly awkward knowing you are actually human right?"  
"_You were cold and lighting a fire would give away our position"_  
"Thank you" she says laying an arm on the ground next to me.  
"_You may lightly scratch my head or back like you want to."_  
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that" she says with a smirk scratching my neck just below the base of my head.  
My tail wags slightly back and forth as she does.  
_"You probably won't_"  
"So are you going to tell me now?"  
"_Alright. I was traveling one day up north, in the northern part of this spine. You see I had once eaten like elves before this accident, it was three years ago that this happened._  
*flashback*  
"_It was a cold winter day, the snow had fallen, the trees had withered, and the animals had gone away to their underground holes in order to wait out the winter. I had been running from the empire's soldiers before I went deeper into the spine. I had heard the same stories everybody did, galberatorix had once lost half of his army in the spine, and I had found this true! Many times on my adventures into that place did I find broken shields half covered in leaves or snow and rusted swords dropped carelessly to the ground as their owner had fled from some unknown terror all with galberatorix's insignia engraved on them. However unlike most people I did not believe the spine was cursed, for in fact many of my greatest success' came out of the spine"_  
"Success' meaning what?" Arya said cutting me off  
"_New plants and animal species, I catalog them."_ she simply turns her head to give me a strange look.  
"_What a guy can't have a hobby?_"  
Another strange look.  
"Just continue with the story Aaron..."  
_"I was walking along not worrying about the noise I was making as I didn't hunt animals instead i ate the berries i knew were edible, and there was nobody around for everybody was too scared to travel this far into the spine. However I did see something unusual that day. Night was starting to fall and I brushed through some trees into a clearing, that is when I saw him."_  
_"Saw who?" She asks cutting me off again._  
"Do you want to finish this story or not? You know for an elf you sure are impatient"  
She scowls but is quiet  
"_There was a white furred wolf laying In the center of the clearing, it's back was turned to me, it's breathing was heavy and that's when I knew it was dying. This wolf was an outcast of the pack it had been thrown out and left for dead. The wolf had not eaten in days by my reckoning and I was about to absorb its energy and let it die in peace, but then... Something happened, Something not normal. It was some sort of magical superpower, something more than even a hundred elves could match, perhaps it was spirits, but it was something amazing nonetheless. the wolf and I were surrounded in a complete circle of multi-colored magical energy, as you know the color of magic depends on the caster as with Eragon It is blue, as with you it is green and as for me it is now white, my magic used to be red but now it is white. After I was released from the powerful magic I looked up to find the wolf gone! It was only then that I realized that I no longer had hands and I felt a sudden craving for meat, and I now had the instincts and abilities of a wolf. I got up off the ground and smelt something, it smelt like fresh meat so I followed it, soon it found a small rabbit den."_  
_I stopped there for I knew Arya would not like to hear of the killing of innocent animals._  
_"In any case after I had my fill of a meal I ran as fast as I could south, not stopping for anything except to drink and eat. Many a time after I had exited the spine I had to dodge arrows and spears of men. It was only once I had reached my uncle's home that I felt safe. He however came out with a bow himself and I reached my mind out as quickly as possible and mentally shouted. Uncle it's me!_"  
"Aaron how did you get into that wolf body?"  
"_It was only weeks later that we found out what had happened, my soul and body had been bound to the wolf's making us one and the same, I now knew everything he did and he now knew everything I did. I could neither rid myself of his soul or his body even though we studied for weeks and in all the vast collection we had, we could still not find anything on how to rid me of it. After that my uncle taught me how to harness it, allowing me to transform between either body at will, and even how to fight as a wolf too."_  
*end flashback*  
"_Though I never forgot the taste of meat and even though I am disgusted by eating it, I have to. Meat contains the nutrients wolves bodies need in order to stay strong and fit, you see wolves are not like humans or elves there is a certain nutrient in meat that strengthens bones and muscles but it only reacts to a chemical in certain animals bodies, in other words they need to eat meat, they cannot chose to, and if they do try to resist it they will die of starvation for they will become too weak to do anything._"  
"So there is no magic involved in transforming between bodies you simply toggle which body you wish to use?"  
_"Exactly and as for souls our soul is one i do not have a split soul is what I am trying to say."_  
"That is truly amazing" so you can transform at any time, even right now?"  
"_Yes but I don't think you want me to do that"_  
"Why not"  
_"for one my fur is acting like a blanket for you right now and is keeping you warm, secondly if I were to transform into a human you'd have a naked man laying on top of you._"  
"ok you can stay in your wolf form, I like you better like this anyways, your fur is warm and very soft."  
"_Thank you" I say with an attempted smile but only succeed in baring my teeth._  
"You can sleep Aaron I'll take the first watch"  
_"I usually don't sleep Arya, and what sleep I do get is horrid."_  
"What do you mean?"  
I stay silent. Then after another questioning look from her I get up and walk away. I am still in the clearing but just barely, just enough to where the tree's create a shadow over me so only my outline is showing. The moon is full tonight as I see through a gap in the branches, I raise my head and look up at the moon and howled, it was a long howl though nonetheless it amazed Arya who was now sitting up with her back against a tree, for as the howl progressed I spun it into a poem, 'twas a sad poem I had written, it was the first poem I had ever written. I was ten when I had written it. i had trouble defending my mind and the poems my uncle taught me to help did nothing for I could not memorize them. And while the poem I had written wasn't very great for it had none of the characteristics of a decent poem it had helped me with a great many things, defending my mind being one of them, coping being another.

the darkness comes  
the darkness falls

with love my heart  
has lost all hope

there is no hero to this story  
no happy ending

only when death rules supreme  
will the fools know

silence, in dreams…

I snapped my maw muzzle shut and the noise stopped, a few seconds after I stopped an entire quire of wolves joined in, howling the same tune I had just finished. Each wolf that joined in came from a different direction, one east, one west, one north, and one south but we could tell they were traveling in pairs for there were eight distinct howls. They repeated the tune over and over again, each beast had a new sound coming from its muzzle until it sounded as though there was a full quire singing and weaving music along to my poem, it was truly something to behold and Arya just sat there, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, Her eyes had a look of pure wonder in them.  
"_Get some sleep Arya._"  
"Oh, ok. She says simply, stumbling over the words as she does so. She then lays back down as I softly pad over to her and sit down...  
Hours later you would find what looks like a woman and a wolf laying down, the wolf had its head on her chest and looked as though it was asleep, however if you even entered the clearing said wolf would bolt upright and growl at you, if you did not leave by then you would most likely not live to tell the tale.  
The next morning they both woke up, it was still early morning and the sun was just starting to peek its way through the trees.  
After refilling our water-skins we started our run again, this time the road was much more populated and we had to cut off of it many times, we had a run in with a traders caravan once where Arya managed to steal the forest green dress she was now wearing. As the roads became more and more crowded we decided it would be far better to walk than to run as there was a much higher chance of getting caught, even if it annoyed me greatly not being able to run it was necessary. Directly after Arya stole the dress she had changed her facial features to look more human, her eyes were now more rounded and as we're her ears. We always kept our mind linked in case trouble started to brew.  
Eventually we fell in with a group of traders who were heading north to Eastcroft  
_"Arya if anybody asks why you are traveling alone or about me tell them you are not alone and that I am your loyal companion who listens to your every word."_ Unexpectedly nobody asked about either of those things and the day went in without incident. Soon we were only a good mile or so outside Eastcroft.  
_"Arya he is here_"  
"_You are right, the birds sing of his coming and the plants bloom in anticipation, even the worms dance in their halls of dirt."_  
We attempt to get off the road but they start asking questions when we do and are therefore forced to stay with the trader's caravans. Soon it is nearly dark and the sun is going down as we enter the town.  
I slowly pad alongside Arya though the rapidly emptying streets, people hurrying back from their errands to their respective houses before the curfew comes into effect. We are both completely calm as a younger looking guard approaches us.  
"I haven't seen you around here before" he directs towards Arya  
"I am meeting my brother here so we may travel to Dras Leona together"  
"Hmm is that your beast?"  
"Aye he is my protector, I wouldn't dare travel alone now would I?"  
The man chucked at this but then said "just make sure he doesn't cause any trouble. Before I forget how long is your stay?"  
"Just tonight"  
"Then you're looking for cheap lodging, I suggest the wayfarers' house down by the main well."  
"Thank you" and with the we were both on our way.  
When we got walked in the door there were a good four or five dozen people that filled the room.  
We walked up to the bar to ask if we could rent a room.  
"Do you have a room available?" Arya asked a large woman who was serving drinks.  
"Is this your dog?"  
"Yes he is my protector I don't go anywhere without him"  
"We'll you're just in luck we have one room left. Just make sure he doesn't cause any trouble."  
Arya paid for the room, the woman handed her a key then left as we went to go sit down, as soon as Arya sat down I laid next to her stool as somebody familiar walks in... My mind however is then caught off guard by some men who are pestering Arya. She manages to stay calm though obviously they are annoying her in their drunken stupor, no doubt attempting to find someone to share a bed with for the night... I let out a low growl as one of them, no doubt the leader of their small group steps forward and he immediately takes the same small step backwards again. Just then Arya's face tightens and her features look shocked but her composure is quickly regained as the lead man speaks again, I ignore the whole conversation but one of the disadvantages of being a wolf in a crowded place is that everything is ten times louder and the room is full of people and drunkards attempting to be heard over the rest of the crowd, I do this until somebody I do know comes to the table.  
"It seems to me, gentlemen, that the lady would rather be left alone. Now you wouldn't ignore the wishes of an honest woman would you?"  
The man scoffed at this, " an honest woman? No honest woman travels alone"  
At this a growled, making myself known to the crowd.  
"Eragon ignored me however an said  
"Then allow me to set your concerns to rest for I am her brother and we are traveling to go live with our uncle in Dras-Leona."  
I growled again and the men backed off a little more  
"Also it seems as though her pet is a little irritated with your company as well, I have encountered a wolf before gentlemen and if this one has any wild side on him you definitely don't want to be around when he loses his temper." At this the men went back to the bar to pester some other poor woman.  
Eragon then slipped behind the table and sat next to Arya. I could not hear what they whispered in each others ears but I could feel Eragon's emotions, as well as Arya's but Eragon's were very confused, he felt love, hatred, disappointment, a very small amount of hope, but mostly there was a deep friendship the was  
Not only found in Eragon's mind but Arya's also, an extensive trust between partners, a bond that was cut from the earth to be forged in the fires of love, shaped in the tides of war, sustained through arduous training and rejection, a bond that was only cooled when in the heat of battle, but even then the trust was still there, everlasting, and unbreakable.  
By now their conversation was over and they headed upstairs as Arya gave me a look that told me to follow. I caught up just as they entered the room, as soon as I was in Arya closed and securely locked the door. I later by the bed as Arya undid the brooch that held her cloak on an Eragon removed the headband he had covering his ears. It was Eragon who broke the silence.  
"So who is your friend?" He asked "an elf friend who showed up at the Varden? Or just a bewitched wolf?"  
As he said this I contacted his mind as well as Arya's though not knowing who it was he recoiled from the contact throwing up mental barriers in order to protect his mind from the potential invader. Until Arya put a hand on his leg saying "it ok" and he allowed me in, all I said however was  
_"Hello Eragon"_  
"Aaron?"  
"_Yes_" I say licking my body clean from the days activities  
"How are you, A wolf?" he finished  
_"It's not magic if that's what you're wondering but I shall explain tomorrow once we are on the road again"_  
"Saphira said you stayed behind to kill the last ra'zac and to explore the rest of helgrind. Is this the truth?" Arya asked and I knew this would be a conversation I would want to hear.  
"It's part of the truth"  
"So what is the full truth?"  
"Eragon made me and Arya both promise that whatever we heard we could not repeat to anybody unless he gave us permission. After we gave the oaths he re-accounted his tales of Helgrind, finding a man named Sloan, and his journey to Eastcroft.  
"So the ra'zac and Lethrblaka are dead for good now" I add after he had finished  
"Yes"  
"Good now I can finally stop watching my back."  
"You should have killed him" Arya said after a moderate silence.  
"Maybe, but I couldn't"  
"You were a coward, just because you find a taste distasteful is no reason to shirk from it"  
"Was I? Anybody could have killed Sloan, what I did was much harder."  
"Physically, but not morally."  
"I didn't kill him because I thought it was wrong!" He said slightly raising his voice.  
"Every man has a line he won't cross Arya."  
"_I don't_" I add in finishing one paw and switching to another, licking my claws clean first.  
"Aaron you're, different." He says pausing in the middle as If he was searching for the right word. After he said this I removed myself from both of their minds ignoring them and focusing mostly on my own devices, namely my cleaning. Soon however the two lay down, Arya on the bed and Eragon near the door, Arya had entered the elves strange way of sleeping that most called their "waking dreams" but Eragon had not, I could feel his emotions shift from surprise, to cunfusion, to anger and understanding, to love, to frustration, all within the span of a few minutes. His cycle repeated throughout the span of hours late into the night.  
_"Eragon_" I say simply, mentally contacting his mind with my own.  
_"What is wrong? I feel your emotions, you are confused and hurt, something happened between you and Arya"_  
It wasn't a question but he answered.  
"_It is none of your business Aaron go to sleep"_  
_"I cannot, I do not sleep at normal intervals like you do Eragon, not to mention if the emotions flowing through your head were any louder i doubt Arya would be able to sleep either, But in any case I will simply have to block you out_" I said exiting his mind, shuffling around on the floor again to get comfortable. Soon we are all asleep...  
The darkness still enveloped the small town when we had awoken, Arya opened a widow and the two jumped out, I did the same with an incredible display of agility and strength did a front flip out the window landing on the opposite side of the wagon they were behind.  
"Show off" Eragon said simply and we ran, we ran between houses and around carts, through empty streets and dark alleyways. Eventually we arrived at the outer wall, there were a span of thick posts scattered along the wall and leading up it, from experience I knew these helped hold the walls together and are also a great escape route.  
"You first" says Arya  
"Please after you"  
She sighs impatiently saying, " a dress I somewhat breezier than a pair of leggings Eragon."  
He does not make any other comments but starts the journey swinging from pole to pole, then Arya goes up, and sits next to hit,  
"Watchman!" They shout and unison.  
But he is already gone  
"Where is Aaron"  
"Shhh."  
The watchman passed without issue and I came out of my hiding place, which was between a couple of boxes and underneath some loose dirt, the guard walked right past me and did not notice at all. I jumped out and up, grabbing onto the first post with my teeth I drag myself up on top of it, then I launch myself to the next landing firmly on each post every time.  
Soon we were outside the city walls and running again, this overjoyed me greatly even if we were potentially running from the empire.  
About five miles outside the town when we were sure nobody was following us, we stopped, Arya then dug out a few handfuls of dirt from the ground and uttered a spell that I could not hear, water then filled the hole, at this point I nuzzled Arya's leg and said  
_"I'm going to scout ahead"_ and without waiting for her to reply I take off through the tree's again, soon I was on the main road, once again running, the win blowing through my fur felt good and the physical exertion of running was more than enough to make me overjoyed, it was good to do something physical other than dodging swords, and using elf like acrobatics in order to get in and out of battle quickly while still managing to deal significant damage.  
In any case I was on a job, however I stayed within range of Arya and Eragon's minds which was a good 15 minutes out, soon they were running towards me, so I waited, I had seen no patrols on the road so far and therefore was confident of safety.  
Once the two Elves had caught up we began to run again. The day went by quickly as did the night, soon morning was upon us again and we began our run again, every once in awhile we encountered a patrol of enemy soldier but we were always in the company of other travelers, by now it was mid afternoon and I sensed a group of twenty soldiers ahead, I was going to warn Eragon and Arya but judging by their emotions they had already found out, the land was flat, there was no place to hide, if the soldiers stopped to question us we would have to fight we saw the plume of dust from the soldiers a half hour before we could even make out the shapes if bodies and horses and we knew that they could not see us at this distance as we had enhanced sight and they did not, therefore we continued to run for another fifteen minutes before we stopped. Arya then pulled her skirt from her pack and tied it over her leggings while Eragon worked on smothering his palm and my entire body in dirt as I explained.  
_"Wouldn't it be strange to see a traveling dog this clean?_"  
So after he padded me down I once again rolled around and that sufficed.  
After the better part of an hour our two groups met and we moved off the road silently holding our heads low. The soldiers stop, I don't listen to the conversation that ensues between Eragon and what must be the lead horseman, I do however listen to the emotions flowing around in the soldiers minds, the lead rider is impatient, and annoyed. Throughout the group there are many other emotions flowing but I don't get time to study them all for Eragon throws the stone he had picked up earlier sending it strait through a mans skull and that is when I attack, I leap onto one man, jaws open wide and bite down on his face quite literally tearing it from his skull then I jump back off of him back flipping to avoid the incoming spear being thrown at me, I see them go whizzing under me as my primal instincts kick in making everything seem like it is in slow motion. I jump from soldier to soldier, avoiding their spears, biting crucial body parts, or injuring them so Arya or Eragon could finish them later, one by one all the soldiers are either dead or dying on the ground and Arya goes back to finish the job.  
We set out moving as fast as we could after that, I looked backed onlu once... The crows were starting to descend.  
After that we had decided to stay off the main roads lest we risk another encounter with the imperial soldiers.  
That night we all sat by our measly fire a few miles off the main road I had gone hunting and Eragon had refused the extra rabbit I had offered him, so at Arya's request I had eaten both of the rabbits outside the camp raw, a mix of tastes flew into my mouth every time I ate raw meat, it was revolting to my human body yet still so delicious and addicting when coming from the perspective of a wolf. When I was done I licked the remaining blood from my muzzle and joined the two elves by the fire, in the distance a pack of wolves howled as they taught their young how to hunt, after I had initially transformed my uncle had taught me everything about the nature of wolves to their habits and hunting styles in that they excelled, wolves were probably one of the closest rivals to humans in comparison of hunting skill, no longer did I think them simple minded animals any more, nor any other animal, not after I had shared every thought of one, even one so young. The wolf I had been bound with may have been young but his life was full of memories and emotions, yes emotions comparable to a human. The wolf I had been bound to was mated to one of the alpha's many daughters, this was a problem you see for one day he had failed to catch the buck that the pack had been hunting and it cost him dearly, the alpha gave him a scar on his face that is no longer visible for I used magic to fade it and grow fur on top of it again as I thought it made him look ugly, after the alpha had given him the scar he had challenged the alpha, this was a big mistake. The alpha wolf tossed him about like a rag doll and that was the last straw, he was left for dead by the entire pack, even his mate whom at the time was carrying a litter of pups. Even as I remember this loneliness and longing fill my heart as his mind fills mine with the passionate mating sessions and the excitement of a new litter of pups, the love he felt for his mate was something amazing, he had protected her from everything that came their way, had hunted for her, and had caressed her with his body when she fell ill to some unknown disease. As I walk back over to the fire I notice that underneath Arya's eyes were slightly swollen and red, she had been crying but was also frequently looking over to admire a single blue Lilly planted in the ground eventually we smothered the fire with dirt and laid down to fall asleep, once again I had decided to take the first watch, however, before any of us could get settled Arya sat up, completely alert for something I knew not what.  
"We are being watched, whatever you do don't use magic or it could get us killed."  
"Who-" Eragon started but he was cut off by a quick "shh" from Arya.  
In the distance, a cluster of multicolored lights appeared. the lights were constantly changing in shape and size, making it hard to focus on just one as they moved swiftly through the tall grasses. Then the humming started, it was so loud I resisted the urge to dig a hole and climb into it, even pinned against my head my ears still throbbed with the sound, and with my enhanced hearing it felt as though my entire head was exploding with the sound. Eragon's mouth opened but I didn't hear anything come out all I heard was the humming, never ceasing, never fluctuating in pitch or volume. Then one of them approached Arya I would have dove in front of her but I was rooted in spot by the humming. Arya's face remained calm even when it reached out with a single tendril of multicolored light and touched her hair, then there was a smell of burnt hair in the air as Arya reaches out and touches the orb of glowing light and it changes to a golden color, a look of pure joy radiated on her face and there was nothing in her emotions that otherwise betrayed it. Next the orb came to Eragon, and much the same thing happened. Then it came to me and it reached out a tendril and stroked me, I reach my head back but then it turns red, blood red, the others follow suit turning red also, and it backs away quickly as the humming turns into a screech and they all disappear in unison as though they were all part of one being and the screeching stops. As soon as it does I walk silently out of the camp laying down just outside the clearing. I can hear my two companions talking in the background but I don't listen instead i ponder my own thoughts and the obvious message that the spirit had sent me, I didn't even sleep in the clearing that night and only slept after Arya kneeled beside me and tapped my shoulder at which point I just rested my head in her lap as she sat down and fell asleep  
Mid afternoon of the next day the Varden had come into sight, we swiftly gathered our composure and walked towards the group of horsemen who were galloping towards us. Then I saw Saphira, she dove strait to the ground flattening her wings against the sides of her body, just before she hit the ground she opened them again catching the air and pulling up then dropping to the ground a good twenty five yards away. The men had reigned in their horses but left them where they were a good ten yards away in order to refrain from frightening them more.  
"_Greetings Saphira the queen of the skies"_ I say being the first to mentally contact her other than Eragon who heard our entire conversation.  
"_Greetings Aaron, master shapeshifter. do you fare well?_" she replied using a title nobody had called me before.  
"_Aye just a bit tired is all, I need to bathe and clean the dirt from my fur, it has a ghastly itch to it"_  
_"I know the feeling._" she says giving a mental chuckle "_when sand and dirt are stuck underneath your scales though it's a lot harder to get out"_  
_"I do not doubt that it is, however much I enjoy this pleasant talk though I must be going, I shall see you when we meet next then?"_  
_"Indeed"_ she replied, and with that I exited her mind.  
I walked forward but was stopped when one of the men that had come from the camp said,  
"sir Nasuada insists on seeing yourself along with you miss Arya, and you sir shadeslayer" he says looking at each of us in turn.  
I kept walking, not looking back, but I did contact Arya one last time.  
"_If you would could you please have Nasuada send me a new set of cloths?"_  
She acknowledged me with a quick nod, the movement betrayed the fact that she was not human i acknowledged her with a feeling of gratitude then continued my walk, all I hear Arya say was  
"Let him go" as I exit the range of hearing. I think to myself as I walk away,  
This is who I am, who I was meant to be, I am meant to walk alone amongst thousands.  
The trip back to my tent was quick and silent, I was discreet about it of course hiding in the crevices between tents and such, and eventually I made it back to my own tent and went inside, I lay on the floor and am soon asleep.  
When I awake it is to the sound of a sharp tapping upon the wooden post which held the front part of the tent up. I went over and opened the tent to see none other than Arya standing there with a fresh suit of clothes, her facial features were back to normal, she was also carrying another set of cloths that I assumed were for me. Without a word she set them on the bed and politely waited outside. Soon I was human again and fully clothed. I then invited Arya into my dwelling pulling up a wooden stool for me to sit on politely giving her the small yet comfortable cot.  
After the formal elvish greetings we start our conversation.  
"So" she says simply  
"So what?" I ask pretending ignorance.  
"Last night. What happened?"  
"Arya I don't normally confine within anybody and I normally don't find any use to anyways..."  
"Aaron we are like kindred spirits, we think alike, we fight alike, and we feel alike. Let me tell you now sometimes holding things in can be more painful than letting them out."  
"Then first tell me why you were crying last night, once I am satisfied with your answer I shall give you my story."  
She sighed but began anyways.  
"Gil'ead" she started  
"I am queen islanzadí's ambassador, it was my duty to protect Saphira's egg and carefully transport it between the Varden and Ellesméra, I traveled along with two of my, it pains me to say friends. We were just exiting the expanses of du weldenvarden at night when we were ambushed by urgals and a shade name durza, my two friends were killed instantly. The shade took me to Gil'ead where he tortured me in nearly every way possible. The reason I was crying last night Aaron was because Eragon had asked me how I had felt during my imprisonment, therefore I told him. Now I do believe it is your turn.  
"Alright" i say sighing "the spirit last night formed words, he didn't say much, all he said was you are not what you think you are. Then it acted shocked, turned that blood red color, and you know the rest, what I saw inside its memories was even stranger however. I saw my Parents, and I saw me, almost as if it knew me or something."  
"Is that it?"  
"Afraid so, I've been trying to figure out what it meant and how it would possibly be able to know me."  
I motion towards her leggings, quickly changing the subject  
"It's too bad, you looked good in a dress."  
"Unfortunately dresses make work harder and they aren't too terribly comfortable."  
"Hmm" I say simply  
"It is late I should be going"  
"Yes, sleep well Arya." And With that she left, leaving me alone in the dark tent I had learned to call my home, at least for the time being...

**EP:** hey guys hope you liked that chapter! As you should all know we are now into brisnger. I'm looking forward to the challenge of writing in the new book. How did you guys like the bit of Aaron being part wolf? Is Arya being too ooc? I'm attempting to make her less harsh and self reserved than CP wrote her in an attempt to take this story in a romantic direction as I labeled it as such. In any case let me know what you think and I'll try to do some Q&A if you all are up for asking some questions, just remember I can't give away too much of my master scheme :P also note I probably won't make too many chapters this long again.

**Word Count: 7087**


	9. Author's Note

**EP:** hey guys i didn't want to post this chapter but i think its necessary. you see i haven't posted any chapters lately but for good reason. i have been in a very depressed mood lately and haven't wanted to write. also i was in Oregon for a week without a computer 0_0 horrible right? :P in any case i haven't even started on chapter 9 yet, however! i will try to start it soon for you guys alright. just be patient and before you know it the chapter will be up! (note: this chapter will be replaced with chapter 9 once i write it and will probably be posted the same time as chapter 10) i'll try to write chapter 9 and 10 for you guys that way it was worth the wait! again sorry for the long delay!


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